On Saturday, 6th May 2023, Times Now journalist Bhawana Kishore and two others were granted interim bail by the Punjab and Haryana high court. Earlier in the day, a lower court ruled that Bhawana Kishore be remanded to police custody for 14 days. But the high court intervened in this matter and granted interim bail to Bhawana Kishore, video journalist Mritunjay Kumar and driver Parminder who were arrested by the Punjab Police in a road accident case while covering an AAP event on Friday, May 5.
In a highly questionable move, Punjab Police have slapped the SC/ST Atrocities Act because of the caste of the woman injured in the accident.
A plea was filed in the high court by the channel against the arrest. Advocate Pawan Narang represented Times Network.
According to Bhawana Kishore’s lawyer Chetan Mittal, the court prima facie agreed that this case is false. Granting interim bail, the high court listed the matter for Monday, saying that the state can place its arguments on Monday. “Whatever objection the state is having, that case will be heard on Monday,” the court said.
#DeshKiBetiBhawana
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) May 6, 2023
Punjab and Haryana High Court grants interim bail to @BhawanaKishore
Earlier on Friday, Kishore along with video journalist Mritunjay Kumar and driver Parminder were arrested by the Punjab Police while covering an AAP event.@Roypranesh pic.twitter.com/uZ4vYwcBqk
Bhawana Kishore’s lawyer Chetan Mittal said, “We approached the high court for quashing the FIR against and granting bail to the Times Now correspondent Bhawana Gupta and the other two. We received a copy of the FIR after the custody order was given in the afternoon. We contended to quash the FIR and get interim bail. We told the high court that even a single minute of custody on the basis of the allegations mentioned in the FIR is illegal. No offence as per the SC/ST Act occurs as per the allegations in the FIR. Even if the allegations attributed to them are considered true for the sake of argument, none of the allegations can be proved as required by section three of the act. There is a ruling by the Supreme Court that immediate bail should be given to any illegal bail. The court heard the case on merits and granted interim bail to petition till Monday.”
#DeshKiBetiBhawana gets interim bail.@BhawanaKishore was getting panic attacks. We insisted that she should be granted bail…The regular bail plea will be heard on Monday: Chetan Mittal (Bhawana's lawyer) speaks to @Gurpreet_Chhina pic.twitter.com/oSRX30I2wA
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) May 6, 2023
He further said, “We were saying that she is a lady who is getting panic attacks. She has been suddenly put to such jail in the evening. The way they have treated her, the FIR is also not being given. Then they said that we will confirm whether there is such a situation. They came back. they said that the medical test we have got it done and there is nothing in it. We said the way they have attributed the false allegations against her, in the same way, they will get the medical done. We said that if not the other two men at least this lady should be granted the bail being a woman only. So it will be heard on Monday. The main petition as well as the interim bail of the other two people.”
The Punjab police Friday arrested Times Now Navbharat journalist Bhawana Kishore in a rash driving case. The police arrested her and two other crew members Mrityunjay Kumar and Parminder Singh. The police invoked provisions of the stringent SC/ST Act along with various sections of the IPC against the scribes.
According to the police, the arrest was made after a woman was injured on her right hand when the car they were travelling in collided with her. According to the authorities, the trio was also charged with abusing the victim with casteist slurs. The police registered a case against the scribes under Sections 279, 337 and 427 of the IPC and Sections 3 and 4 of the SC and ST Act.
Following the arrest, Times Now alleged that their reporter has been falsely implicated in an SC-ST case by the Ludhiana police. The channel also said that she was not driving the vehicle and is not responsible for the accident. Bhawana was arrested while she was on her way to report the inauguration of Mohalla Clinics by AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal.
The channel, hinting at an alleged witchhunt launched against them by the Aam Aadmi Party after their recent “Operation Sheesh Mahal” expose against their supremo Arvind Kejriwal, said that Bhawana was taken away in a car by a male cop before a flimsy FIR was filed against her in Ludhiana’s Section 3 Division Police Station. It was also noted that the said cop was not wearing a nameplate displaying his name while taking Bhavana.
