Arrest ex-MLA Chhoker forthwith, HC tells ED

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to forthwith arrest former MLA Dharam Singh Chhoker unless the Supreme Court had stayed or quashed an earlier order issued by the Bench in a related matter.

The Division Bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Sudeepti Sharma asserted non-bailable warrants for arrest had been issued multiple times by the Special Judge concerned, citing the purported reason that Chhoker was evading arrest. The warrants were apparently received by the arresting officer concerned. The Special Judge orders and the recourse taken by the investigating officer clearly indicated that he possessed sufficient grounds to carry out the respondent’s arrest. Moreover, the orders issuing non-bailable warrants against the accused were upheld by the high court.

'Complete inaction' by central agency

• A Division Bench said non-bailable warrants for former MLA Dharam Singh Chhoker's arrest had been issued multiple times by the Special Judge concerned
• The Bench said it was evident that Chhoker was not concealing or hiding himself, but rather openly campaigning in the Samalkha Assembly elections
• The motions filed by the ED for the issuance of arrest warrants and declaring him a proclaimed offender intended to camouflage its “complete inaction and indolence”

The Bench added the concurrent dismissal orders issued by both the Special Judge and the high court regarding his anticipatory bail application provided a clear basis for concluding that, prima facie, a non-bailable offence had been committed by the respondent. The rejection orders indicated that the high court was of the opinion that there were sufficient grounds to believe that he had committed a non-bailable offence. Consequently, this created an obligation for the investigating officer to carry out his arrest.

The Bench added the orders had not been quashed or set aside by the Supreme Court. As such, the investigating officer was obligated to promptly arrest him. He remained un-arrested despite the high court’s order dated May 28, upholding anticipatory bail plea’s dismissal order passed by the Special Court. The ongoing situation was a matter of anguish and called for censure of the investigating officer for failing to execute the necessary arrest.

The Bench added a particularly troubling aspect of the case was that the investigating officer invoked the provisions of the CrPC to seek his arrest on the purported premise that he was evading arrest. “However, the taking of the steps, does not yet condone the abysmal failure or inaction on the part of the investigating officer concerned, to cause the arrest of one Dharam Singh Chhoker, who however in the absence of his being arrested rather became ill facilitated to campaign for his candidature vis-à-vis Assembly constituency Samalkha,” the Bench observed.

The court added it was evident that Chhoker was not concealing or hiding himself, but rather openly campaigning in the Samalkha Assembly elections. The motions filed by the ED for the issuance of arrest warrants and the declaring him a proclaimed offender intended to camouflage its “complete inaction and indolence”.

“There is no order on record of this court suggestive that its order had been quashed and set aside by the Apex Court or there has been stay against the said Dharam Singh Chhoker becoming arrested…. The order was passed by this court on May 28, yet the respondent remaining un-arrested startles the judicial conscience of this Court,” the Bench asserted.