Republic Day Violence: Delhi Court Extends Interim Protection From Arrest Of Lakha Sidhana Till July 20

A Delhi Court on Saturday extended interim protection from arrest till July 20 of Lakha Sidhana, wanted by the Delhi Police in connection with his alleged role in the Republic Day violence case.Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau extended the interim protection after hearing Advocate Dhillon appearing for Sidhana, the Public Prosecutor and IO Pankaj.During the course of hearing today, the judge had asked the IO and the PP as to why custodial interrogation of Sidhana was required when the conspiracy angle has already been investigated by the Delhi Police.Denying the grant of custodial interrogation, Adv. Dhillon submitted before the Court thus:"He is 40, married and having a son. This is very unfortunate for such a senior officer to make such comments. He hasn't been named anywhere. We moved this bail application because on April 8 his cousin was arrested by Special Cell and beaten. He then addressed a rally but somehow he wasn't arrest. We then filed an anticipatory bail. It was their own case that he never entered Red Fort. 1 lakh reward was on his head in another FIR in which we got interim protection from arrest."Objecting to this, Public Prosecutor submitted that:"FIRs relate to murder, roberry etc. He was a gangster later turned into an activist. I just saw a video sent by the IO saying that we have to defy the rules of the authorities and that we have to reach Red Fort. The co accused have all been arrested."Furthermore he argued:"People who did violence on the Red Fort, he is not seen amongst them. He was behind."Hearing the aforementioned submissions, the Court ordered:"I can give him a short interim protection and ask him to join investigation. There is no purpose of giving interrogation when there is nothing."The development came after the Court had granted interim protection from arrest to Sidhana till July 3while dealing with the anticipatory bail application moved by Sidhana in FIR 96 of 2021.In a similar development, the Court had granted interim protection from arrest till July 20 to Jugraj Singh, accused in connection with the Republic Day violence case, who had allegedly climbed one of the flagpoles on the Rampart at the Red Fort, a restricted area of the protected site and hoisted Nishan Sahib flag.An FIR was registered by the Crime Branch (Central Delhi) of the Delhi Police in connection with the violence that broke out at Red Fort on Republic Day under sec. 147, 148, 149, 152, 186, 353, 332, 307, 308, 395, 397, 427 and 188 of the IPC read with sec. 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act, 1959 and sec. 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act 1984The Delhi Police had earlier announced Rs 1 lakh as reward for information on Sidhana's whereabouts.Deep Sidhu has been named as the primary conspirator in connection with the aforementioned FIR, however, a Delhi Court had granted bail to Sidhu in April this year.It was earlier submitted that Sidhana had no role in connection with the Red Fort incident and that it is admitted by the police that Sidhana never entered Red Fort on 26th January 2021.Senior Advocate Ramesh Gupta along with Advocates Jasdeep S Dhillon, Vir Sandhu, Jaspreet Rai and APS Mander appeared on behalf of Lakha Sidhana before the Delhi Court.

Republic Day Violence: Delhi Court Extends Interim Protection From Arrest Of Lakha Sidhana Till July 20

Nupur Thapliyal

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