New Delhi, Jul 21: The Supreme Court on Tuesday orally observed that there was no allegation that the accused including Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann “exhorted” a crowd protesting against the hike in electricity tariffs in Chandigarh in 2020.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi fixed the appeal of the Chandigarh administration for hearing on July 30.
The Chandigarh administration, represented by Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, has assailed the Punjab and Haryana High Court order which had quashed the FIR against Mann and others in the case.
The bench was hearing the administration’s plea challenging the high court’s decision to quash the FIR and charge sheet arising out of the protest march.
On Tuesday, Justice Bagchi asked as to how the mere presence of Mann and others amounted to hatching the conspiracy.
“There is no allegation that he (Mann) exhorted the crowd,” the bench said.
The law officer said that there was ample evidence that they exhorted the protesting crowd.
The CJI said that the bench will hear the pleas on July 30 when the other plea of the administration is listed for hearing.
Earlier, the bench had observed that it was not inclined to entertain the plea of the administration against the Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict quashing an FIR against Mann and other AAP leaders over a 2020 protest against the hike in electricity tariffs.
“Everyone does ‘naarebaazi’ (sloganeering) in democracy. Now that he (Mann) is holding some responsible position, we understand that he will understand his responsibility also,” the CJI had said.
“If you are going to argue on merits, we will hear you. Otherwise, we are not inclined to interfere,” the CJI had told the additional solicitor general S V Raju.
The high court had earlier held that no prima facie case was made out against the AAP leaders and the ingredients of the offences invoked under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) were absent.
It consequently quashed the FIR and the chargesheet registered under Sections 147 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from duty), and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of duty) of the IPC.
The FIR was registered in 2020 on the complaint of constable Manpreet Kaur, who alleged that during an AAP protest against the increase in electricity tariffs, senior party leaders, including Mann, Harpal Singh Cheema, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Baljinder Kaur, Aman Arora and others, incited around 750-800 party workers to march towards the then Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh’s residence in Sector 2, Chandigarh.
The police alleged that the protesters attempted to breach barricades and later resorted to stone-pelting after water was sprayed to disperse the gathering, resulting in simple injuries to several police personnel. (PTI)
