Tajinder Bagga Arrest: Arvind Kejriwal Thinks He is 'Bigger Than Babasaheb' Says Bagga; VHP Delegation Arrives to 'Meet Family'

In a reprieve for Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, the Punjab and Haryana High Court Saturday night 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 earlier in the day. 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.

Latest updates on the story:

• Tajinder Singh Bagga, talking to CNN-News18, said Delhi CM Kejriwal considered himself ‘bigger than Babasaheb’ now. The BJP leader said he would not apologise to Kejriwal, and that the Punjab police had ‘arrested him without a warrant’. Meanwhile, a delegation of the VHP arrived at Bagga’s residence to meet his family.

• Tajinder Singh Bagga has thanked the Punjab and Haryana High court on the reprieve provided to him on the arrest warrant issued by the Mohali court. He said ‘Arvind Kejriwal was very afraid, and was unable to sleep at night’ which is why the Delhi CM had taken such actions against him.

• Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi party attacked the BJP after the incident. “Entire BJP is trying to save one goon (Tajinder Singh Bagga) and Khalistani left there (HP assembly with flags. Khalistani flags were put on the Legislative Assembly. How will a government that cannot save the Legislative Assembly save the people? This is a matter of respect for Himachal Pradesh. It is a matter of security of the country. The BJP government has completely failed,” said AAP minister Manish Sisodia in a tweet.

• Notably, on May 10, the high court is to take up Bagga’s petition, seeking quashing of the FIR registered against him last month. Mittal said that the court stayed the arrest warrant. The hearing took place for around 45 minutes, said Mittal. Earlier in the day, the court of Judicial Magistrate Ravtesh Inderjit Singh issued the arrest warrant against Bagga in connection with a case registered last month.

• “Mohali High Court has not given any relief to BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga. The court has not stayed the warrant of arrest. Punjab Police has said in the court that they will not arrest Bagga till 11 am on May 10th”: Aam Aadmi Party.

• Preetpal Singh Bagga, father of Tajinder Singh Bagga has said the BJP leader ‘is not at home since warrant from court has asked his family not to contact him’. “He is also in touch with senior BJP leadership,” he said.

• “I am happy that Tajinder got relief from Punjab High Court. They (Punjab govt) want to drag him in some case or the other. They will keep filing FIRs but we are not going to stop, this fight will last long”: Preetpal Singh Bagga, father of Tajinder Singh Bagga.

• “Punjab Police was put against Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga. Only because of political envy they are repeatedly taking action against some people. We will fight against this and will ensure that the truth will win”: BJP leader RP Singh, in Delhi.

• “We have written to the Punjab chief secretary seeking a report within seven days on BJP leader Tajinder Singh Bagga not being allowed to wear a turban while he was arrested by Punjab police”: Iqbal Singh Lalpura, Chairman, National Commission for Minorities.

• 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 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.

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