Sudha Bharadwaj not to be remanded to Pune Police custody (for now): Punjab & Haryana HC

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered that activist and lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj will not be remanded to the custody of the Maharashtra Police till the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Faridabad passes an order granting transit remand..A Habeas Corpus petition was filed on behalf of Sudha Bharadwaj before the Punjab and Haryana High Court following her arrest by the Pune Police earlier today. After hearing the petition, Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan issued notice of motion for August 30..Advocates RS Bains and Ankit Grewal appeared for Bharadwaj before the High Court. The petition, filed through advocates Arjun Sheoran and Neha Sonawane, describes the arrest as a “witch hunt for unsympathetic political views”..It is stated that the documents of arrest given to Bharadwaj are in Marathi, a language she does not understand. This, the petition states, falls foul of Section 165 and 166 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Further, neither the grounds nor the purpose of conducting the search in terms of Section 165(1) have been made available to Bharadwaj..The FIR on the basis of which Bharadwaj has been arrested doesn’t even have her name, the petition states. It is further stated that she was not even present at the cultural event at Bhima Koregaon that took place on December 31 last year..“The search has not yielded any objectionable material, yet the detenue, who has been detained and kept under preventive custody and has been arrested. In fact, they have effectively detained her and restricted her movements to the extent of not allowing her to even use her phone. The occupants of the house have been forced to switch off their phones, in flagrant violation of Constitutional, Fundamental and Human Rights, as well as established principles and protocol of search and seizure.”.A reference to the Delhi High Court order staying Gautam Navlakha’s arrest, passed earlier today, has also been made in the petition..After hearing the arguments, Justice Sangwan held,.“Notice of motion for 30.08.2018. .In the meantime, it is directed that in case the detenue is produced before the concerned Ilaqa Magistrate/Duty Magistrate/Chief Judicial Magistrate, Faridabad, the order granting transit remand will be passed after going through the contents of the FIR and recording a finding that the provisions of Section 41 and 50 of the Criminal Procedure Code have been complied with..Till then, the detenue – Sudha Bharadwaj shall be kept at the same place i.e. her home at Badarpur border in the State of Haryana, from where she was arrested under the supervision of Police Station Surajkund.”.Over in Faridabad, Chief Judicial Magistrate Ashok Kumar was hearing the bail plea filed by Sudha Bharadwaj..Although Advocate Sanjeev Chaudhary mentioned the bail order of the Punjab & Haryana High Court, since a copy of the order was not available, CJM Ashok Kumar refused to intervene in the matter..However, despite the High Court’s order, the Pune Police has taken Bhardawaj into custody, given that the Chief Judicial Magistrate has not received a copy of the High Court order..Sudha Bharadwaj was represented by Advocates Sanjeev Chaudhary and Sudesh Kumar Yadav before the Chief Judicial Magistrate..Bharadwaj’s lawyer Vrinda Grover has sent this communication to the Police who have taken Sudha Bharadwaj into custody..Here is the message from Vrinda Grover..Read the order of Punjab & Haryana High Court in Ankit Grewal as a Next Best friend of Advocate Sudha Bhardwaj vs State:.Read the petition: