Ambika bhardwaj
Published On: January 27, 2022 at 15:59 IST
On Thursday, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Majithia was given Interim Protection from Arrest by the Supreme Court in a Drug Case which was filed by the Punjab Police.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana instructed the State of Punjab to not take any coercive measures until Monday next week as the Supreme Court will hear the Anticipatory Bail Petition lodged by Majithia.
Senior Counsel P Chidambaram, who represented the Punjab government was told by the CJI that they’ll hear the Case on Monday.
This came after Senior Counsel Mukul Rohatgi, who was representing Majithia mentioned the Anticipatory Bail Petition he had filed and claimed it to be a Case of “Political Vendetta”.
CJI asked Chidambaram if the Case against Majithia was reasonable or not.
“On January 24, an Order was issued after which he went into hiding”, said Chidambaram while making a reference to the Order issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which granted Majithia limited Interim Protection.
On January 24, the High Court denied Majithia’s request for Anticipatory Bail, but gave him Interim Protection for three days to lodge an Appeal before the Supreme Court.
The Drug Case goes back to 2013 and a First Information Report (FIR) was filed which was based on a Special Task Force Report that was submitted to the High Court in 2018.
Majithia’s Petition stated the current Case to be “Purely Political” and has been filed with the Mala fide aim of targeting the Petitioner, who is the mainstream leader of the Opposition party.
According to the Appeal, the State’s Congress government is abusing its power and position to seek vengeance against its political opponents which includes the Petitioner.