The Punjab and Haryana High Court on October 12 quashed the FIR registered against former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and poet Kumar Vishwas by Punjab police in connection with a case of making ‘inflammatory remark through an interview’ against Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal accusing him of having links with ‘separatist elements’, and provoking enmity.
Pronouncing the Order Justice Anoop Chitkara pointed out that given the facts and circumstances peculiar to this case, the court’s non-interference would result in a miscarriage of justice, and thus, the court invokes the inherent jurisdiction under Section 482 of Code Of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and quashes the FIR and all subsequent proceedings qua the petitioner. All pending application, if any, stand closed.
“The parties do not dispute the factum of the interview and its correctness. The matter requires nothing else to be proved. The veracity of the statements made in the interview is not required to be gone into and considered by launching the prosecution for trial as the same remains undisputed. The only relevant issue that remains to be addressed is whether the interview of the petitioner given on February 16, 2022, led to the incident of April 12, 2022..” observed the court.
