Tribune News Service
Saurabh Malik
Chandigarh, August 24
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today allowed a petition filed by Punjab’s former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal seeking the quashing of an FIR registered for allegedly violating prohibitory orders, malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life and other offences.
In the petition filed through senior advocate R.S. Cheema with counsel Arshdeep Singh Cheema and Satish Sharma, Badal submitted he was told by the locals during the run-up to the elections that illegal mining was being done in the area of “Wazir Bhullar”. The petitioner on June 30, 2021, proceeded to the site and saw heavy machinery deployed for mining purposes, including suction machines
“It came as utter shock to the petitioner that despite such tell-tale evidence of illegal mining being done, the investigating agency registered the instant FIR against the petitioner and others after procuring a complaint from an employee of the contractor. The allegations levelled in the FIR are that the mining was being done legally and the petitioner threatened and restrained the employees of the contractor illegally. The FIR in question is nothing but an abuse of process of law and malafide exercise of power,” the Bench was told.
It was added that FIR in the matter was registered on July 1, 2021, under Sections 269, 270, 188, 341, 506 of Indian Penal Code, and the provisions of the Epidemic Diseases Act at Beas police station in Amritsar district.
“In a democratic country, if a well-established political person, on hearing serious complaints regarding any public issue, decides to verify the same by visiting the spot itself, it cannot be said that he intended to violate any promulgation issued by any government under Section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 or Disaster Management Act, 2006.” — Justice Anoop Chitkara
#Sukhbir Badal
