'Everyone Does Naarebaazi In Democracy': Supreme Court Not Inclined To Revive Case Against Bhagwant Mann Over Protest March

The Supreme Court today orally expressed that it is not inclined to entertain Chandigarh administration's plea against quashing of a rioting case against AAP leaders, including Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann over holding a protest march in 2020 against electricity tariff hike.

A bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana was hearing the Chandigarh administration's challenge to the Punjab and Haryana High Court order which quashed the rioting case arising out of a 2020 protest.

Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, for Chandigarh, urged that the administration is facing some technical objection to the 3 cases filed by it challenging separate orders. He prayed for some time to address the issue.

CJI Kant however orally expressed that the bench was not inclined to entertain the challenge. "Mr Raju, naarebaazi(sloganeering)...everyone does it in democracy. Now that he (CM Bhagwant Mann) is holding some responsible position...we understand that he will understand his responsibility also...it's alright I think now. If you are going to argue on merits, we will hear you. Otherwise, we are not inclined to interfere."

The ASG however submitted that a mini trial was conducted by the High Court and the entire case quashed. He insisted that he wished to argue on merits. Accordingly, the bench adjourned the matter.

To recap, in the impugned order, the High Court held that no prima facie case existed against the AAP leaders and that the alleged offences under the IPC were not made out. The Court quashed the FIR and the chargesheet filed under Sections 147 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 332 (causing hurt to a public servant), and 353 (assault) IPC.

The High Court said that, "the nature of alleged instigation by the petitioners has also not been mentioned; nor have specific words or gestures of any kind been attributed to them. Therefore, there is no basis to ascribe the alleged act of throwing stones by the mob to the petitioners. It is a case where no act, voluntary or otherwise, has been attributed to the petitioners. Instead, the allegations are that on shooting mild water on the mob they started pelting stones which hit the officials present there."

On merits, the Court found no material whatsoever showing any overt act by the petitioners and no prohibitory order under Section 144 CrPC existed; hence the assembly was not unlawful. It was also noted that the chargesheet admitted that the petitioners and 750–800 persons were yet to be identified for purposes of a supplementary challan. No specific instigation, words, or gestures were attributed to the petitioners and the injuries appeared to be a result of shoving during crowd movement, not deliberate assault. The order also pointed that Stone pelting allegedly began only after the Duty Magistrate ordered water to be sprayed on the crowd.

Background

The FIR was registered in 2020 on the complaint of L/C Manpreet Kaur, who alleged that during an AAP rally protesting the rise in electricity tariffs, senior party leaders—including Bhagwant Mann, Harpal Cheema, Meet Hayer, Baljinder Kaur, Aman Arora, and others—had incited 750–800 workers to march towards the Punjab Chief Minister's residence in Sector 2, Chandigarh.

Police officials deployed at barricades alleged that the crowd became aggressive, attempted to break the barricades, and later pelted stones when water was sprayed on them. Several police officials reported simple injuries, as reflected in their Medico Legal Reports (MLRs).

Case Title: U.T CHANDIGARH v. BHAGWANT MANN AND ANR., Diary No. 21434-2026