Punjab: Akali leader's daughter released after hearing that went past midnight

Chandigarh, Nov 30 Kanchanpreet Kaur, the daughter of an Akali leader, was released on Sunday morning following a Tarn Taran court order after the hearing in the matter went past midnight.

Kanchanpreet's counsel Arshdeep Singh Kler, who’s also the head of SAD’s legal cell, said she was released early Sunday morning after the court struck down the non-bailable offence registered against her in the FIR.

She was produced before the court on Saturday night. The hearing began at 10 pm and lasted till around 1 am on Sunday, while the verdict came at around 4 am.

Kanchanpreet is the daughter of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Sukhwinder Kaur Randhawa, who recently lost the Tarn Taran Assembly bypoll to AAP’s Harmeet Singh Sandhu.

Meanwhile, police on Sunday evening reiterated its position that Kanchanpreet's arrest was based on “concrete evidence of her active involvement in the criminal syndicate run by her husband, and police have sufficient evidence for appeal as per the law”.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Riputapan Singh said police will continue their probe into the matter in which Kanchanpreet was released by the court.

“Police have sufficient evidence for an appeal, as per the law. After the legal scrutiny of the court order, the case will be taken up further in the honourable court,” the SP said in a statement.

Speaking to the media in Tarn Taran earlier, Arshdeep Kler said that during the hearing, the court acknowledged that Kanchanpreet's arrest was unconstitutional and raised questions over the police action.

Police had sought a 10-day remand for Kanchanpreet.

Kanchanpreet was arrested on Friday after she was named in a case linked to alleged intimidation during the recent bypoll. The case was first registered at the Chabhal police station in Tarn Taran on November 11.

Kler said police added non-bailable Section 111 (organised crime) of the BNS to the FIR to arrest Kanchanpreet.

The SAD leadership has called the case a “political vendetta” by the AAP government. Kanchanpreet was facing four poll-related cases in which she had already obtained anticipatory bail.

On Saturday, Kler moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court against Kanchanpreet's arrest, calling it “illegal” and “unlawful”.

Opposing Kler’s submissions, state counsel Chanchal K Singla said that Kanchanpreet's complicity surfaced as her husband, Amritpal Singh Bath, was involved in 23 FIRs.

He also submitted that the offence under Section 111 was added to the FIR since the detenue happened to be Bath’s wife.

The high court order directed the magistrate to consider the contention raised by the petitioner's counsel before taking any decision on Kanchanpreet’s remand as sought by the state.

Following the request by the petitioner's counsel that he would personally appear before the court in Tarn Taran to argue the case, the high court bench of Justice Rajesh Bhardwaj directed the magistrate to keep Kanchanpreet in court custody and allow her counsel to make his submissions.

The case was initially registered against Amritpal Singh Bath for allegedly threatening complainant Gurpreet Kaur of Padhri Kalan to influence her vote.

She was charged under sections 174 (non-attendance in obedience to an order from a public servant), 351(2) (criminal intimidation), 351(3) (criminal intimidation by anonymous communication), and 111 (organised crime) of the BNS.