The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday quashed two separate FIRs registered against poet Kumar Vishwas and BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga. The court said the continuation of the criminal case against Bagga will amount to ‘an abuse of the process of law’.
While Vishwas was booked by the Rupnagar Police in Punjab over his alleged inflammatory statements against AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, Bagga was booked on charges of making provocative statements, promoting enmity and criminal intimidation at Mohali in April.
The poet allegedly made inflammatory statements against Kejriwal alleging links with separatist elements and he was booked under sections 153, 153-A, 505, and others.
Senior counsel Chetal Mittal said that Justice Anoop Chitkara ordered the quashing of the FIRs. After the pronouncement of the verdict, Vishwas thanked the judiciary and admirers.
Earlier, ahead of the assembly elections, Vishwas had accused Kejriwal of supporting separatists. The Punjab Police on April 20 had visited the house of the former AAP leader, who is also a poet, in Ghaziabad and summoned him for questioning.
In his petition, Vishwas had submitted that the case registered against him was sheer abuse of the process of law and apparently politically motivated.
"The manner in which the investigating agency is proceeding, it is apparent that it is trying to curtail the liberty of the petitioner by adopting a procedure unknown to law," he had submitted.
Vishwas had submitted that the registration of the FIR against him was absolutely illegal, arbitrary and unjust and it is nothing but a means to wreak vengeance through politically motivated criminal investigation by using the state machinery for the oblique motive of political gain.
In a tweet, BJP leader Bagga said, “Satyamev Jayate Big slap on @ArvindKejriwal Face. Punjab High court Quashed FIR against Me & Me & @DrKumarVishwas."
(With PTI input)
Also Read: 'Inflammatory statements' against Arvind Kejriwal: Punjab & Haryana HC stays arrest of Kumar Vishwas
