Tajinder Bagga thanks Punjab and Haryana HC for staying his arrest, says 'law still works in India'

New Delhi: Delhi BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga on Sunday (May 8, 2022) thanked the Punjab and Haryana High Court along with Minority Commission for staying his arrest and said that the "law still works in the country".

"I thank the Punjab and Haryana High Court along with Minority Commission who showed yesterday that law still works in this country. The Minority Committee sent a notice to the Punjab government for not letting me wear my turban. In Sikhs, we can`t go out without a turban," Bagga was quoted as saying by ANI news agency.

In a reprieve for Bagga, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Saturday night had directed that no coercive step be taken against the Delhi BJP leader after he sought a stay on the arrest warrant issued by a Mohali court.

Hours after the Mohali court issued the arrest warrant in connection with a case registered against him by the Punjab Police last month, Bagga moved the high court challenging it.

Justice Anoop Chitkara took up Bagga's petition in an urgent hearing at his residence just before midnight.

"No coercive steps till May 10," said Bagga's counsel Chetan Mittal on the high court order.

The high court is to take up Bagga's petition on May 10, seeking quashing of the FIR registered against him in April 2022.

Earlier on Saturday, the court of Judicial Magistrate Ravtesh Inderjit Singh issued the arrest warrant against Bagga in connection with a case registered last month.

The Punjab Police had booked Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga on the charges of making provocative statements, promoting enmity, and criminal intimidation. The case was registered on a complaint of AAP leader Sunny Ahluwalia, a resident of Mohali.

The FIR registered on April 1 referred to Bagga's remarks on March 30, when he was part of a BJP youth wing protest outside the residence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Bagga was booked under relevant sections, including 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place, etc), 505 (whoever makes, publishes, or circulates any statement, rumour or report) and 506 (criminal intimidation), of the Indian Penal Code.

Bagga was then arrested by the Punjab Police from his Delhi home on Friday, stopped in Haryana while being taken to Punjab and brought back to the national capital by Delhi Police hours later. 

(With inputs from agencies)