The Supreme Court on Friday expressed shock at the order passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court granting protection from arrest of former Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini in cases pending against him or likely to be registered against him in the future.
The Bench headed by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana said that the order was unprecedented and sought to know how protection can be granted for future cases which have not even been registered.
“This is unprecedented order. How can a future course of action be stayed? It is shocking and three of us (judges) feel that it is unprecedented. This will require a hearing,” the court said.
The court went so far as to say that it will request the Chief Justice of the High Court to reassign the matter to another judge and not the one who passed the interim order.
“We will request the High Court to dispose of the petition by another judge and not the same judge within 2 weeks. We request the Chief Justice to take it up himself or by any other judge and we will keep this matter pending in theSupreme Court,” CJI Ramana said.
Advocate General Deepinder Singh Patwalia appeared for the State of Punjab,while Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi represented Saini.
Single-judge of the High Court Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan had on Thursday ordered that Saini should not be arrested till April 20 in various cases pending against him except one -- the murder of Balwant Singh Multani-- since that matter is pending before the Supreme Court. Besides Multani murder, Saini also faces a trial before a Special CBI Court in Delhi for the alleged abduction of automobile businessman Vinod Kumar, his brother-in-law Ashok Kumar and their driver Mukhtiyar Singh.