The Punjab and Haryana High Court has quashed a first information report (FIR) filed against former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Sukhbir Singh Badal for allegedly violating the government orders issued during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Single-Judge Bench of Justice Anoop Chitkara, while observing that it did not find any intent on part of the SAD leader to violate the Covid-19 protocol, quashed the FIR.
The High Court observed that a well-established political person deciding to verify serious complaints regarding any public issue by visiting the spot itself in a democratic country could not be considered as violating any promulgation issued by any government under Section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 or the Disaster Management Act, 2006.
Alleging that the case was politically-motivated, Sukhbir Badal asserted in his plea that even if all the accusations were accepted as true, they would not become grounds for prosecution. Despite this, the State of Punjab pursued legal action against him, which he claimed was motivated by ulterior intentions.
An FIR was registered against the former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister on June 30, 2021, alleging that Badal and his supporters visited a village in Amritsar without wearing masks.
The FIR further alleged that the accused threatened the employees of M/s Friends and Company, who were involved in mining work. As per the complaint, the company’s employees ran away from the spot to save their lives while the accused misled locals by saying that the mining work undertaken by the company was illegal.
Police claimed that despite the company’s employees clarifying that the mining was carried out under a government contract, Badal and his supporters persisted and caused disruption and commotion.
Since the district administration had clamped prohibitory orders related to the Covid-19 pandemic during this period, Badal was alleged to have violated the Covid-19 guidelines and also hindered the legal mining activities.
He was charged with the offence of deliberately disobeying government orders, criminal intimidation and other provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897.
The counsel appearing for Badal argued that as Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab, he was obligated to visit the site and assess the situation firsthand.
The counsel apprised the High Court that Badal received complaints that the company was charging excessive rates for sand and conducting mining in a non-scientific manner.
He said there was no evidence to prove that the petitioner was not wearing a mask at that time. Moreover, it was pointed out that being in an open area near the riverbed which was far away from any crowd, not wearing a mask was inconsequential.
The Bench further took note of the fact that the place where Badal had gone was not at all crowded as the workers had fled on noticing his presence.
The High Court then observed that there was no occasion at any time for the employees of the company to be at risk of infection, even if Badal was hypothetically taken to have been infected with Covid-19 at that time.
(Case title: Sukhbir Singh Badal v State)