The Punjab & Haryana High Court has stayed the arrest of former Aam Aadmi Party leader and poet Kumar Vishwas. A case was registered against him in April after he exposed alleged links of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal with Khalistani elements during the Punjab Assembly elections of 2022.
Punjab & Haryana High Court stays arrest of former AAP leader and poet Kumar Vishwas. A case was registered against him for his alleged statements against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal
— ANI (@ANI) May 2, 2022
On April 20, the Punjab Police had arrived at the doorsteps of former Aam Aadmi Party leader and poet Dr Kumar Vishwas in Ghaziabad. According to reports, Vishwas attracted an enquiry from Punjab Police regarding the remarks he had made against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal during the Punjab Assembly elections in February.
Following the development, Kumar Vishwas submitted a plea challenging the FIR against him filed by the Punjab Police. In his plea, he sought a stay on any coercive action against him in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The Bench of Justice Anoop Chitkara in an order on Monday has stayed the arrest of Vishwas in the case. The plea submitted by him stated that the FIR against him is a result of a malafide intention and an abuse of the process of law. Vishwas stated that the FIR is filed with an ‘oblique motive to set political scores’ after the statements made by him against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
Kumar Vishwas’ Plea
Kumar Vishwas was seeking relief from an FIR registered against him on April 12 for giving allegedly provocative statements against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in the interviews with the media between February 16 to 19. The complainant, Narinder Singh had complained that Vishwas’ statements could create ‘unrest and communal instability during elections across Punjab’.
Kumar Vishwas in his plea noted that while he gave the concerned statements in February, the complainant mentions the incident allegedly took place on April 12. The police agency got the FIR registered within two hours of the receipt of the complaint and further formed an SIT to investigate the same. Furthermore, he also stated in the plea that the police, without serving the FIR to him, sent a team of Punjab police officers to his residence with the ‘oblique motive to unlawfully violate his fundamental right to liberty.’
Action against Kumar Vishwas
On February 16, in a sensational development amidst the state assembly elections, Kumar Vishwas had highlighted Kejriwal’s compromise for power in Punjab by siding with Khalistani separatists. According to him, Kejriwal at one point had claimed, “Either I will become Chief Minister of the state or I will become first Prime Minister of an independent nation (Khalistan).” Vishwas had alleged that deep-rooted separatism had engulfed Kejriwal’s mind in his quest for power.
#WATCH | Poet & former AAP leader Kumar Vishwas alleges AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal was supportive of separatists in Punjab
— ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2022
“One day, he told me he would either become CM (of Punjab) or first PM of an independent nation (Khalistan),” Vishwas says. pic.twitter.com/5ccGs9jNn3
After Kumar Vishwas’ expose, AAP leader Raghav Chadha issued a threat to the media saying that AAP would take legal action against the media houses for covering the allegations as posed by Vishwas. The war of words between Dr Kumar Vishwas, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, and AAP leader Raghav Chadha escalated further which led to Punjab police knocking at the doors of Vishwas. Now it is learnt that the case registered against him by the Punjab Police regarding his arrest has been stayed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
