CHANDIGARH, Nov 30: Kanchanpreet Kaur, the daughter of an Akali leader, was released early Sunday morning following a Tarn Taran court order after the hearing in the matter lasted past midnight.
Kanchanpreet’s counsel Arshdeep Singh Kler said she was released early Sunday morning after the court struck down the non-bailable offence registered against her in the FIR.
She was produced before the court on Saturday night, with the hearing beginning at 10 pm and lasting till around 1 am. The verdict came at around 4 am.
Kanchanpreet is the daughter of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Sukhwinder Kaur Randhawa, who recently lost the Tarn Taran bypoll to the AAP candidate.
Speaking to the media in Tarn Taran, Kler said that during the hearing, arguments took place over the arrest of Kanchanpreet. He said the court acknowledged that Kanchanpreet’s arrest was unconstitutional, besides raising a question over the police action.
During the hearing, police had sought a 10-day police remand of Kanchanpreet.
The police on Friday arrested Kanchanpreet after she was named in a case linked to alleged intimidation during the bypoll. The case was registered at the Chabhal police station in Tarn Taran on November 11.
Kler said the police added a non-bailable Section 111 (organised crime) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) in the FIR to arrest her.
The SAD leadership has called the case a “political vendetta” by the AAP government.
Kanchanpreet was already facing four poll-related cases in which she has already got anticipatory bail.
On Saturday, Kler, who is the SAD legal cell head, moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court against Kanchanpreet’s arrest, calling it illegal and unlawful.
State counsel Chanchal K Singla, however, opposed the submissions made by the petitioner’s counsel, and submitted that Kanchanpreet’s complicity surfaced as her husband, Amritpal Singh Bath, was involved in 23 FIRs.
The HC in its order directed the magistrate to take into consideration the contention raised by the petitioner’s counsel before taking any decision on the remand of Kanchanpreet sought by the state.
Following the request by the petitioner’s counsel that he would himself personally appear before the court in Tarn Taran to argue the case and would reach there by 8 pm, the HC bench of Justice Rajesh Bhardwaj had directed the magistrate to keep Kanchanpreet in court custody and allow her counsel to make his submissions.
The case was initially registered against Amritpal Singh Bath for allegedly threatening complainant Gurpreet Kaur of Padhri Kalan to influence her vote.
However, Kanchanpreet was named in the FIR on November 27. She was charged under sections 174 (non-attendance in obedience to an order from public servant), 351(2) (criminal intimidation), 351(3) (criminal intimidation by anonymous communication), and 111 (organised crime) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). (PTI)
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