'Cases before elections', SC grants protection from arrest to Bikram Singh Majithia till Feb 23
Darpan News Desk IANS, 31 Jan, 2022 12:00 PM
New Delhi, Jan 31 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Monday protected Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia from arrest in a drugs case till February 23.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana told the Punjab government counsel to advise his government to refrain from launching criminal cases against the political opponents, just before the election. The top court directed Majithia to surrender on February 24 before the trial court and seek regular bail.
Senior advocate P. Chidambaram, representing the Punjab government, submitted before the bench, also comprising Justices A.S. Bopanna and Hima Kohli, that Punjab is sinking under drug trade and the youth are in danger. He added that it is a case of international drug racket and there have been money transactions, where Majithia mediated, and pressed for his custodial interrogation.
The Chief Justice told Chidambaram there is an allegation that it is a politically motivated case and asked, when will the elections get over? He pointed at a mentioning of another case of an MLA from Punjab, where he cited a case registered against him and claimed that he was not allowed to file nomination. The Chief Justice added that suddenly such cases come up before the election, and the court does not mean that the government should not crack down on the drug mafia.
"Let him file nomination and campaign, once it is over he will surrender before the police... and apply for regular bail", said the bench.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Majithia, submitted that for six years there were thorough probes and nothing was found against his client.
Majithia, the brother-n-law of SAD chief Sukhbir Badal, is in the fray for the February 20 assembly polls from Majitha, near Amritsar. He had moved the high court after a Mohali court dismissed his anticipatory bail petition in a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act registered on December 20.
In a 49-page FIR filed by the state police Crime Branch at the Mohali police station, the SAD leader has been booked under sections 25, 27A and 29 of the NDPS Act.
Unveiling the first set of plans in his Punjab Model with focus on resurrection of Punjab, Sidhu, in the absence of Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and his Cabinet colleagues, told the media here: "Punjab Model is people's model, an effort to give a roadmap to return power to people."
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said that he "personally" feels that alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab had cost the BJP heavily.
India on Tuesday recorded 1,68,063 new Covid cases, taking the total tally to 8,21,446. Although the fresh infections were 6.4 per cent less than Monday when the country logged 1,79,723, the weekly positivity rate has climbed to 8.85 per cent and the daily positivity rate has declined to 10.64 per cent. On the other hand, 4,461 Omicron cases were recorded from 28 states.
Delhi reported a 25 per cent surge in Covid-19 cases after recording 19,166 fresh cases. With this, the infection tally has climbed to 15,68,896. Meanwhile, the city has recorded 17 Covid deaths on the second consecutive day, pushing the death toll to 25,177.
On Monday, after a detailed hearing in the matter, a bench, headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, said the court will set up a committee headed by a retired top court judge to probe the PM's security breach and asked both the Centre and Punjab government to not move ahead with their respective inquiries into the matter.
Several Supreme Court advocates on Monday claimed to have received an international call with a recorded message asking the apex court not to help the Central government by taking up a case connected with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's security breach in Punjab last week.
