Chandigarh: The police of three states – Punjab, Haryana and Delhi – were embroiled in an ugly face-off on Friday over the arrest of Delhi BJP leader Tajinder Bagga for his allegedly provocative remarks against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Such was the day-long tussle between the three states over the arrest as well as subsequent custody of Bagga that it had the nation sitting on an edge, glued to TV screen. The absurdity of the affair could only be matched by the recent Jignesh Mevani affair, when the Dalit leader was arrested by the Gujarat Police in a midnight swoop from his Assam residence.
The ‘Bagga’ episode started with the former’s arrest from his residence in west Delhi by a large Punjab police contingent. The AAP government in Punjab might have succeeded in doing a ‘Mevani’ on the BJP, but for a twist in the tale.
The Punjab Police team was stopped in its tracks by the Haryana police in Kurukshetra, following a request by the Delhi Police accusing Punjab counterparts of not following due procedure and virtually ‘abducting’ a citizen of Delhi, if the complaint of Bagga’s father was to be taken at face value. (The police in the national capital, needless to say, reports to the Centre. Both Haryana and Delhi are BJP-ruled.)
In the unending rigmarole, while the Delhi Police claimed it was acting on a complaint from Bagga's father about his son’s abduction, Haryana cops claimed they had stopped the Punjab police convoy on Delhi's request. The absurd theatrics continued with Punjab Police, in turn, contending that Haryana Police’s action was a flagrant violation of law. The matter finally culminated in a livid BJP staging protests in the evening against what it termed was the AAP’s political vendetta.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court, meanwhile, made an intervention and turned down Punjab’s request to not allow Bagga to cross the Haryana border and enter Delhi.
Finally, Bagga, who was picked up by the Punjab police at around 6 am in the national capital, at the end of the day, was escorted home by Delhi police; the glum Punjab police returned empty-handed to the state capital Chandigarh.
The next round would be in the Punjab and Haryana high court on Saturday with each state coming up with their responses on the issue.
According to reports, the Delhi Police had also filed an FIR against the Punjab police for allegedly abducting and assaulting Bagga on a complaint of latter’s father.
As the day panned out, a few senior Punjab police officers rushed to Kurukshetra alleging that their officers had been illegally detained by the Haryana Police, a plea which it also took while moving the high court.
Later, dubbing the Haryana police ‘‘interference’’ as a violation of law, Punjab advocate general Anmol Rattan Sidhu observed that everything was as per procedure, but the Haryana cops delayed the process. Sidhu claimed that Haryana Police made the Punjab police team wait for six hours before handing over Bagga to Delhi Police. He also claims Bagga was sent five notices but did not respond to any.
Back in Haryana, the state home minister Anil Vij said that the Haryana police had received information from Delhi Police that Bagga was ‘abducted’ and whisked away from Delhi in a Bolero vehicle; the state police had therefore acted as per law.
``Why was an FIR registered against Bagga in Punjab? Does AAP have a torture house in Punjab?’’ Vij asked and added that Delhi police will now investigate the matter and truth would come out.
The Punjab government held that Bagga was arrested in connection with a case registered against him in Mohali last month on the charges of making provocative statements, promoting enmity and criminal intimidation, on a complaint of AAP leader Sunny Ahluwalia, a resident of SAS Nagar (Mohali).
Satya Pal Jain and former Chandigarh MP Satyapal Jain, appearing on behalf of the Delhi police, claimed the Punjab police had not informed their Delhi counterparts and described Bagga's arrest as political vendetta.
