Amid Tajinder Bagga's arrest, Ashwini Vaishnaw slams 'blatant abuse of law enforcement'

Amid the ongoing political face-off over Punjab Police arresting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Tajinder Singh Bagga, Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw slammed the opposition-ruled states for 'blatantly abusing law enforcement machinery'. Further reacting to the unlawful arrest of the BJP leader, he added that "democracy is under attack." 

Taking to Twitter, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, "#DemocracyUnderAttack Opposition ruled states are blatantly abusing law enforcement machinery and misusing people’s mandate to attack @BJP4India Karyakartas."

As the Punjab Police arrested Tajinder Bagga on Friday morning, hundreds of BJP workers gathered outside AAP's headquarters in Delhi and protested against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his party. The BJP chief and other party members showed their anger by putting papers and posters on fire, breaking barricades, and fighting with AAP workers. They were heard raising slogans, "Dadagiri nahin chalegi". This resulted in Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta being detained by the police.

Punjab DSP KS Sandhu, while speaking to the media, told that the Punjab Police followed legal procedure. He added that the matter is pending in the court. His statement came after BJP leader Tajinder Bagga's lawyer, addressing the media over his arrest, said, "No procedure was followed by Punjab Police in arrest."

Tajinder Bagga arrested

The Delhi Police have registered a kidnapping case in connection with BJP leader Tajinder Bagga's detention. This comes after Punjab Police arrested Bagga on Friday morning over his alleged threat to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. The Delhi Police informed that they have received a complaint from the BJP leader that the standard operating procedure (SOPs) was not followed during the arrest and hence, Punjab Police should be booked under these charges. 

Bagga was arrested over his month-old tweet wherein he wrote an alleged threatening statement against CM Arvind Kejriwal over his views on the film, The Kashmir Files. He has been booked for making provocative statements, promoting religious enmity, and criminal intimidation. The Punjab Police informed that they sent 5 notices for Bagga to join the investigation, however, he ignored them and refused to cooperate.

In a recent turn of events, the Punjab and Haryana High Court asked Delhi and Haryana Police to file an affidavit regarding the detention of Punjab police officers who went to arrest the BJP leader on Friday. The three police detained include -  Punjab Police DSP (Investigation) HS Sandhu, ASI Gurpratap Singh, and Constable Rajbir Singh.