Judicial officers proceeded in mechanical method, observes Excessive Court docket in TV journalist case in Punjab
CHANDIGARH:Defending the constitutional rights whereas extending the interim bail to Instances Now journalist Bhawana Gupta (Kishore) in a case of an alleged rash driving and insulting a Dalit girl in Ludhiana, the Punjab and Haryana Excessive Court docket has noticed that judicial officers proceeded to go orders in a mechanical method.
Granting bail to the journalist and two others until Could 22, the following date of listening to, Justice Augustine George Masih on Tuesday mentioned, “It seems that at no stage, the provisions of the statute have been truly gone into or seen. In a mechanical method, initially the arresting officer and thereafter the judicial officers proceeded to go orders of arrest and remand.”
“Continuance of a citizen in custody with out there being a mandate of regulation i.e. unlawful custody can’t be permitted. A court docket and that too, a constitutional court docket, when involves know of the identical, can’t shut its eyes to the identical.
“Would it not be acceptable to a citizen to proceed in incarceration when it isn’t solely obvious from the allegations however an undisputed place that petitioners Mritunjay Kumar and Parmender Singh Rawat haven’t dedicated the alleged offences that are non-bailable?”
Justice Masih mentioned the allegations within the first info report (FIR) don’t make out an offence towards Kumar and Rawat which might be non-bailable qua them.
“Beneath these circumstances, firstly, the officer, who had taken these two petitioners in custody, couldn’t have carried out so with out making them conscious of the truth that they may avail of the treatment of launch on submission of bail bonds or surety. The identical can be the place as regards the order of remand by the hands of the Responsibility Justice of the Peace as additionally the Particular Court docket.”
Senior advocates R.S. Rai and Chetan Mittal appeared earlier than the Bench on behalf of the petitioners.
Justice Masih mentioned: “This court docket grants interim bail to the 2 petitioners. Mritunjay Kumar and Parmender Singh Rawat are ordered to be launched on interim bail to the satisfaction of the Judicial Justice of the Peace/Responsibility Justice of the Peace, Ludhiana.”
The Bench additionally granted the respondent-state 10 days, as prayed for, to file a reply to the petition for quashing of the FIR.
Earlier, Justice Masih, whereas listening to the petition, went by the FIR and noticed that offences underneath the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act weren’t made out.
Gupta together with video journalist Kumar and their driver Rawat have been arrested on Could 5 when their automotive allegedly hit a lady in Ludhiana, the place that they had gone to cowl an occasion to be attended by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal together with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
Extending help to the journalist, the Chandigarh Press Membership has condemned the arrest whereas she was on an expert responsibility.
Additionally Punjab Governor Banwari Lal Purohit took up the difficulty of her arrest with Chief Minister Mann and mentioned such incidents “don’t give message concerning the state.”