The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday stayed the arrest of former AAP leader Kumar Vishwas over 'inflammatory statements' against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, terming it a fit case to prevent the “abuse of the process of law”. Vishwas was booked by the Rupnagar police in Punjab after the complainant in the case alleged that he and AAP supporters were called Khalistanis. The complaint claimed that the incident took place on April 12 after Vishwas made the remarks, accusing Kejriwal of supporting separatists.
Vishwas had moved the high court last week, seeking the quashing of the FIR registered against him. The court in its order observed that the penal provisions under which the petitioner stands arraigned are not prima facie made out against him. “The submission that the FIR is politically motivated cannot be ruled out,” the HC said.
“Even if all allegations made in the complaint and the prompt investigation, which has covered almost all aspects, are hypothetically believed as gospel truth, still prima facie, the evidence collected does not disclose the commission of any cognisable offence,” the HC said. “The filing of the complaint by naming petitioner as the principal accused does not appear to have been done to seek action against the legal injury,” observed the court.
The court said “a perusal of the complaint and the investigation do not point out that the interviews of the petitioner triggered the incident”. “The arraigning of petitioner by linking his interviews with the stray incident occurring after eight weeks, falls in the category of the exceptional cases where non-interference would result in a miscarriage of justice,” the court said.
