Chandigarh, Jun 3 The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday directed the release of Majitha resident and Shiromani Akali Dal worker Jobanpreet Singh, who is currently detained at a police station there, his counsel said.
The court of Justice Alok Jain issued the order after hearing a plea from Jobanpreet's father Mukhwant Singh, who contended that his son's arrest was illegal, unconstitutional and made without furnishing proper grounds for it.
The petitioner also sought preservation of all video recordings, CCTV footage and other electronic evidence related to the arrest.
His counsel Damanbir Singh Sobti submitted that Jobanpreet was held on May 31 without being furnished the written grounds for his arrest, in violation of Article 22(1) of the Constitution as well as the law laid down by the Supreme Court in various judgments.
It was also contended that no notice under Section 35 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita was issued before the arrest.
Jobanpreet was an election agent of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in the recently held assembly elections.
SAD had earlier alleged that Jobanpreet was picked up from his home and kept at the local SHO's quarters instead of a police lockup.
The party had alleged that Jobanpreet was picked up in a fabricated case over political vendetta as he was a polling agent of the party.
Earlier, police had booked SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia and others for allegedly "storming" into the police station and attempting to forcibly release Jobanpreet from custody.
According to Amritsar Rural Police, Majithia and 50-60 others allegedly forcibly entered the police station on Sunday, went around its rooms "in utter disregard of law", and damaged case files.
Following the incident, police had conducted raids to arrest Majithia.
