'Disquieting' that Bishnoi was interviewed in Punjab police's CIA premises, black sheep has to be identified: HC

Chandigarh, Aug 7 (PTI) Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday said that it was "disquieting" that an interview of Lawrence Bishnoi that "tends to glorify crime and criminals" was conducted when the dreaded gangster was in Punjab Police custody in Mohali's Kharar while the second one was held in Rajasthan.

The "black sheep has to be identified and brought to the book at the earliest", a bench of Justices Anupinder Singh Grewal and Lapita Banerji said while noting the findings of the report filed on July 9 by the Special Investigation Team of the Punjab Police, headed by senior IPS officer Prabodh Kumar, on the location of the interviews.

On the directions of the high court, Punjab Police had registered two FIRs in connection with the interviews of Bishnoi, one of the accused in the 2022 singer Sidhu Moosewala murder case, that were aired by a private news channel last year.

The division bench was hearing a suo motu matter related to the use of mobile phones by inmates on jail premises.

"We appreciate the progress made by the SIT headed by Prabodh Kumar, Special Director General of Police, PSHRC-cum-Head of the SIT as it has been able to pinpoint the places where the interviewee was based at the time of the interview," according to a court order on Wesdenesday.

"It is disquieting to note that in the first interview which was conducted on the night intervening 3rd and 4th September 2022, the interviewee was in the premises of CIA, Kharar while giving the second interview, the interviewee was in the state of Rajasthan," said the order.

Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) is a special branch of the Punjab Police. Bishnoi is facing 71 criminal cases in Punjab and has been convicted in four cases.

Notably, the earlier SIT formed to probe the back-to-back interviews of Bishnoi had said it was highly improbable that the interview was conducted in any of the jails in Punjab when he was in police custody.

Later, on the directions of the high court, the Punjab police had registered the two FIRs in connection with the interviews aired in March last year by a private news channel.

During the hearing on Wednesday, the 'amicus curiae' (friend of the court) submitted that an application will be filed to implead the state of Rajasthan through its Home Secretary.

The court said, "We hope and trust that the investigation conducted by the SIT is not confined to the lower level officials and they are not made scapegoat while protecting the higher officers." "We hasten to add that the Punjab Police is one of the best police force in the country but it needs to be insulated from extraneous influence, it observed.

"The black sheep has to be identified and brought to the book at the earliest," said the court.

The Punjab chief secretary shall render all possible assistance to the SIT as and when sought.

"The interview tends to glorify crime and criminals and there were nearly 12 million views on YouTube which could have had an adverse effect on the impressionable minds," said the court.

The court said it is possible that there could have been a spurt in crime after the interview was telecast.

"We, therefore, direct the Director General of Police, Punjab to file an affidavit setting out the number and details of registration of criminal cases especially those relating to extortion/threatening calls, calls for ransom, abduction and intimidation of witnesses in the State of Punjab with effect from March 202 till December 2023 when the interviews were directed to be removed from the website, channel, URL and nine months prior to the broadcast of the interview," said the order.

The court said Prabodh Kumar has also filed an affidavit seeking directions on the further course of action to be adopted in pursuance to the second FIR as the interviewee was in the state of Rajasthan when it was conducted.

The counsel for the State of Punjab also filed the status report in the form of an affidavit of the Deputy Inspector General of Prisons on the progress made in augmenting jail security including the installation of jammers, CCTV cameras and X-ray body scanners and increasing in manpower.

The court fixed the next hearing on September 5. PTI CHS RT