Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued notice to the Punjab Government on the petition. This petition was filed by former cricketer and Rajya Sabha member Harbhajan Singh, in which he has requested to direct the Punjab government to restore his security. During the hearing, the High Court on Thursday (April 30) directed the Punjab government that Rajya Sabha member Harbhajan Singh and his family members should not face any physical harm in the state.
Justice Jagmohan Bansal also issued a notice to the state of Punjab seeking its reply and now the next hearing will be held on May 12. Former cricketer Singh Raghav Chadha Along with six Rajya Sabha members of AAP, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had joined BJP on April 24. After this, on the instructions of the state government, Punjab Police withdrew their security cover.
Why was the security cordon removed?
After the Punjab Police security was withdrawn, the Central Government deployed the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) outside Singh’s residence in Jalandhar. At the same time, AAP workers had demonstrated outside the houses of Harbhajan Singh, Rajendra Gupta and Ashok Mittal, who had left the party, and wrote ‘traitor’ with spray paint on the walls of their houses in Jalandhar and Ludhiana.
Harbhajan has said in his petition that the Additional Director General of Police (Security) withdrew his security cover in a ‘very arbitrary manner’ without giving him any fresh assessment of the threat and without giving him any notice or opportunity of being heard.
Violent mob surrounded Harbhajan Singh’s house
In the petition, a request has been made to direct the official respondents to restore the security cordon. It mentions that soon after the Punjab Police withdrew their security cover, a violent mob attacked their house on April 25 and 26 and the local police was present during this time, but did not take any action. According to the petition, ‘On the morning of 25th April, all the policemen deployed at the petitioner’s residence left and the Deputy Commissioner of Jalandhar gave permission to the Aam Aadmi Party members to protest at the petitioner’s residence. At around 2:30 pm, a mob reached the petitioner’s residence and wrote ‘traitor’ on the outer walls of the house.’
It has been told in the petition that Singh was in Mumbai at that time for some personal function and one of his relatives informed him over the phone about the mob attack on his house. The petitioner said that while issuing the order to withdraw the security cordon, the ADGP had directed the Jalandhar Police Commissioner to make necessary security arrangements, but no such arrangements were made.