"Political Ploy In Wake Of Upcoming State Elections": P&H HC Stays Arrest, Probe In All FIRs Against Ex-DGP Saini Till 2022 Elections

Dealing with the plea of former Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini to transfer all the criminal cases registered against him to CBI or some other independent probe agency, the Punjab & Haryana High Court today stayed his arrest and probe in all the FIR except for one (pending before the Supreme Court) till State Assembly Elections scheduled for 2022 are held.Saini had also prayed in his 2018 plea that any proposal for arresting him, in any criminal matter, be directed to keep in abeyance for a specific period so as to enable him to seek recourse to his legal remedies.Considering it to be a case of exceptional circumstances and hardship being caused to Saini by the State of Punjab (on political grounds), the Bench of Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan issued the following orders:Stay on the arrest of the petitioner in all cases pending or likely to be registered or registered or where he is sought to be implicated in the aid of Section 120-B IPC except FIR No.77, where the matter is pending before the Hon'ble Supreme Court, till the General Election in the State of Punjab are held which are due in February, 2022 onwards. The orders dated 11.10.2018 as well as dated 23.09.2020, to continue. Stay on conducting further investigation in all the FIRs pending against Sini as the attempts are made to arrest him in the aid of Section 120-B IPC as even in the previous FIRs where such attempts are made and the petitioner had to file repeated petitions before this Court. Stay ON conducting or pursuing any other investigation including by any commission appointed by the State of Punjab till February, 2022. The personal appearance of Saini before any Court where any trial is pending shall also remain exempted till February, 2022 on moving an appropriate application under Section 205 Cr.P.C., before the said Court. Saini will not leave the country without the prior permission of this Court till February, 2022.Importantly, the October 11, 2018 order of the Punjab and Haryana Court had specifically made it mandatory for the agencies, that in case Saini was to be arrested or any action was contemplated against him then one week's advance notice shall be afforded to him before effecting his arrest so as to enable him to have recourse to remedies available to himFurther, in the September 23, 2020 order, the High Court had extended the protection to all the cases/incidences during Mr. Saini's entire service career. Recently, Punjab And Haryana High Court had granted interim Anticipatory Bail to former Punjab Director-General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini in a corruption case.It may be noted that despite the 23 October 2018 and September 2020 orders, Saini was arrested by Punjab vigilance bureau on August 18 in connection with a September 2020 FIR.However, allowing the Habeas Corpus petition filed by the wife of former Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini, the Punjab & Haryana High Court, had, on the next day, ordered his release from the custody of the state Vigilance Bureau calling his arrest 'patently illegal'. Now, in the instant plea, Saini had also averred that in wake of the coming Punjab State Legislative Elections due in February, 2022, the prosecution of the petitioner was just a political ploy.It was also contended that the present Chief Minister of the State of Punjab, was also the Chief Minister at that time when he was the DGP of Punjab and the petitioner did not stop from exposing the role of the corrupt officials in various scams. Therefore, it was submitted that due to this reason, the petitioner had become an eyesore for the Chief Minister of the State of Punjab.Importantly, after hearing the counsel for the parties, the Court found merit in the submissions made by counsel for the petitioner that involvement of the petitioner in multiple cases can be a political ploy in wake of the coming State Legislative Assembly General Elections. The Court also observed thus:"I am also conspicuous of the dare shown by the Punjab Police officials in trying to overreach the Court as noticed above which is also a circumstance to be considered about the nature and quality of investigation being conducted by the Punjab Police in the FIRs."Saini has been facing several criminal charges in various cases registered against him by Punjab Police, including the Multan Murder Case, a Corruption case, Sacrilege case.Click Here To Download OrderRead Order

"Political Ploy In Wake Of Upcoming State Elections": P&H HC Stays Arrest, Probe In All FIRs Against Ex-DGP Saini Till 2022 Elections

Sparsh Upadhyay

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