As Honeypreet Goes Forum Shopping To Evade Arrest, Delhi HC Refuses Anticipatory Bail [Read Order]

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to grant anticipatory bail to Honeypreet alias Priyanka, the adopted daughter of jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

Honeypreet has been evading arrest and while the probe agencies have been looking for her all this while, she moved Delhi High Court seeking protection from arrest.

She is wanted in a case of sedition for inciting violence following the conviction of Gurmeet Singh and was seeking protection from being arrested while moving from Delhi to Haryana.

However, the court said she was not entitled to any such relief.

"She has evaded arrest and hence was not entitled to any discretionary relief. The plea was filed in Delhi to buy time and delay proceedings in Haryana," the court observed.

The plea came to be rejected vide an order delivered late Tuesday evening.

The court questioned why Honeypreet had approached Delhi High Court when the case pertains to Haryana and she is a resident of the neighbouring state.

Her counsel said she was not evading arrest but faces threat to her life. He said Honeypreet has a house in Delhi and has therefore, come to Delhi High Court.

Both Delhi and the Haryana Police opposed her plea saying she was engaging in forum shopping and hoodwinking the court by giving wrong address of a property in Delhi.

Delhi Police standing counsel Rahul Mehra said Honeypreet was considered to be the closest person to the Dera chief and should have called for restraint to ensure peace and prevent the large-scale violence.

On her claims of threat to life, Mehra said if she was a law-abiding citizen, she should surrender and the Delhi Police, which is considered the best in India, will ensure that no harm is caused to her.

Additional Advocate General of Haryana Anil Grover contended that she had not come to the court with clean hands.

Honeypreet has been on the run since a CBI court found Gurmeet Singh guilty of raping two of his disciples in 2002. He is serving 20 years in prison.