Supreme Court grants interim protection from arrest to Bikram Majithia

The Supreme Court on Thursday granted interim protection from arrest till January 31 to Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Majithia in a drug case registered by the Punjab Police..A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana said that the State of Punjab should not take any coercive steps till Monday next week when the top court will hear the anticipatory bail plea filed by Majithia."Tell your State not to do anything. We will hear the matter on Monday (January 31)," the CJI told Senior Counsel P Chidambaram who appeared on behalf of Punjab government. This was after Senior Counsel Mukul Rohatgi, representing Majithia, mentioned the anticipatory bail plea filed by Majithia and alleged that it was a case of political vendetta. "This is a case of political vendetta," Rohatgi said."I don't know if this election fever or election virus. Everyone is rushing to court now," the CJI remarked.He then proceeded to ask Chidambaram whether the case against Majithia was fair or not. "Order was passed on January 24. Thereafter he went into hiding," said Chidambaram referring to the order passed by Punjab & Haryana High Court granting limited interim protection to Majithia. The High Court had on January 24 dismissed Majithia's plea for anticipatory bail but granted him interim protection for three days to file his appeal before the Supreme Court.The drug case dates back to 2013 and an FIR was registered based on a special task force report which was submitted before the High Court in 2018."The present case is blatantly political in nature and has been registered with a malafide objective to target the petitioner who is the mainstream leader of opposition party, one month prior to polls in the State," the petition by Majithia said.The Congress government in the State is misusing its powers and position to wreak vengeance against its political opponents and the petitioner is one such target, the appeal stated..Rohatgi was briefed by a team of lawyers from Karanjawala & Co.