'Give 7 Days' Advance Notice Before Arrest', P&H HC Grants Interim Relief To Former Punjab DGP Sumedh Saini[Read Order]

The Single Bench of Arun Kumar Tyagi was hearing an application filed by Saini, under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 for extending the protection granted by this Court vide order dated 11.10.2018 to any incident pertaining to the entire service career of the applicant/petitioner.

Notably, vide order dated 11.10.2018, Saini was granted the relief that in case the petitioner is sought to be arrested in any case pertaining to an incident of the period while the petitioner remained as State Vigilance Head or Inspector General of Police, Intelligence, Punjab or Director-General of Police Punjab, then one-week advance notice shall be afforded to the the petitioner before effecting his arrest so as to enable him to have recourse to remedies available to him.

In the present matter, notice was issued. The State Counsel accepted notice on behalf of respondents No.1-State and sought time to file a reply to the application. Thereafter, the matter was adjourned to 08.10.2020.

Till then, the Court ordered, the protection of order dated 11.10.2018 passed by the Court will continue to any incident pertaining to the entire service career of the applicant/petitioner.

However, Court made an exception and clarified that this protection will not be extended to the subject matter of case FIR No.77 dated 06.05.2020 registered under Sections 364, 201, 344, 330, 219, 120-B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 at Police Station City Mataur, District S.A.S. Nagar (Mohali) to which Section 302 of the IPC was added later on regarding which SLP No.4336 of 2020 titled Sumedh Singh Saini Vs. State of Punjab (currently pending before Hon'ble Supreme Court).

The Court ordered,

"In case the applicant/petitioner is sought to be arrested in any case pertaining to any incident during the entire service of the petitioner, other than the incident subject matter of above said FIR No.77 dated 06.05.2020, then one-week advance notice shall be given to the petitioner before effecting his arrest so as to enable him to have recourse to remedies available to him in accordance with law."

It may be noted that the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday (08^th September) dismissed Former Punjab DGP, Sumedh Singh Saini's plea against the registration of the criminal case against him in Mohali regarding the disappearance of Balwant Singh Multani.

Notably, Former Punjab DGP had sought directions to quash the FIR registered against him or refer the matter to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for the probe in the matter.

While observing that there is no substance in the present writ petition, the Single Bench of Justice Fateh Deep Singh remarked that Saini, then a DGP, had shown "such scant regard for the law, and has not only seriously undermined the Fundamental Rights of a citizen but gone to the extent of eliminating a precious Human Life in a manner which is beyond retribution."

It may also be noted that the Punjab & Haryana High Court on Tuesday (08^th September) had dismissed the Anticipatory bail application (filed under S. 438 of CrPC) of Punjab's former Director General of Police (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini in the three-decade-old Multani kidnapping and murder case.

However, the Supreme Court on Tuesday (15^th September) granted him interim protection from arrest. The Court has issued a notice in the anticipatory bail plea filed by him.

A Bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan, and comprising of Justices R. Subhash Reddy and MR Shah, heard the arguments in the plea filed by Saini, challenging the order wherein his anticipatory bail plea was dismissed by P&H HC, and proceeded to direct for no arrest till a Reply is filed by the State within a period of 3 weeks.

Case Details:

Case Title: Sumedh Singh Saini v. State Of Punjab And Anr.

Case No.: CRM-23578-2020 in CRM-M-45242-2018

Quorum: Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi

Appearance: Sr. Advocate Vinod Ghai, with Advocate Jasdev Singh Mehndiratta (for the applicant/petitioner). Asstt. AG, Punjab P.S. Walia (for respondent No.1-State)