Punjab and Haryana High Court notice to Rajasthan on Lawrence Bishnoi’s interview

Chandigarh, August 21

Around nine months after “known criminal” Lawrence Bishnoi’s in-custody interview “glorifying crime and criminals” was described as a matter of grave concern, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today put the State of Rajasthan on notice.

The Bench of Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal and Justice Lapita Banerji also asked the Rajasthan Advocate-General to appear before the court via video-conferencing on September 5. The state, through its Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Home Affairs and Justice, was also impleaded as a respondent to the petition.

The notice came after advocate and amicus curie Tanu Bedi submitted that the second interview, according to the SIT report, was conducted in the Jaipur Central Jail. The Bench in December last had directed the registration of two FIRs to be probed by the SIT while observing that the interviewee was involved in 71 cases in Punjab and convicted in four matters, including offences under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 302 of the IPC and extortions. He was justifying targeted killings and his criminal activities, while reiterating and justifying threat to a film actor. The trials were underway in a large number of cases and attempt to project his persona as larger than life could influence the witnesses.

“Punjab is a border state and any deterioration in law and order or increase in crime could affect the national security as, at times, anti-national elements take advantage of the situation and often use criminals for their nefarious designs. They often get help from across the border. There is a thin line between extortion, targeted killings and anti-national activities. The conduct of interviews is an apparent jail security breach and violation of the Prisons Act. The interviews have been telecast for the last nine months and are available in public domain,” the Bench had added.