Payment of Rs 5K costs: Punjab and Haryana High Court allows Punjab to file reply on Hawara’s plea

Saurabh Malik

Chandigarh, April 30

In a major embarrassment for the Punjab Government, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has asserted that police officials travelling to the court without proper instructions resulted in the wastage of their time, affecting the public at large.

The assertion on Jagtar Singh Hawara’s anticipatory bail plea came as Justice Avneesh Jhingan of the High Court asserted that the matter was required to be looked into by the Superintendent of Police (SP) concerned if deemed appropriate.

Justice Jhingan added that reasonable ground was not made out by the state for seeking an adjournment on Hawara’s plea. But one more opportunity was granted to file reply subject to payment of Rs 5,000 costs to the PGIMER Poor Patient Fund. “The authority concerned if deems fit may fix responsibility of the defaulting official,” Justice Jhingan added.

Convicted in the Punjab’s the then Chief Minister Beant Singh’s assassination case, Hawara had moved the court seeking anticipatory bail in a 24-year-old sedition case registered in Mohali district. Justice Jhingan asserted notice of motion was issued on his plea on February 14 and time was sought by the state counsel to file reply.

But on March 3, prayer was made for further time. The situation was similar as of today.

“The seriousness with which these matters are being handled is evident from the fact that police official SI Naib Singh, present in the court from the Sohana police station, Mohali district, has travelled all the way to Chandigarh and reached after 10 am to inform the state counsel that reply has not been filed,” Justice Jhingan observed.

The Bench also took note of the state counsel’s submission on a specific query from the court that prior instructions were not conveyed in spite of a telephonic call and DO letter. Appearing before Justice Jhingan’s Bench, counsel Bhanu Partap Singh had on a previous date of hearing submitted that Hawara was seeking bail in a case registered on June 13, 1998, under Sections 124-A and 153-A of the IPC at the Sohana police station in Mohali district.

Elaborating, he submitted that the petitioner came to know about the present case through a list issued by the Tihar Jail authorities. Hawara was not aware whether he was required by the police in the present FIR. As the investigation was pending since long in the case, he was apprehending arrest.

He added the FIR’s copy was neither being provided to the accused by the investigation agency nor was it available online. Hawara, otherwise, was in custody for the past more than 15 years.