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Journalism of Courage
The Supreme Court will hear Thursday a Punjab government plea, challenging the bail to Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira in connection with a case registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and the Arms Act.
The matter came up Wednesday before a bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal.
Appearing for Khaira, Senior Advocate P S Patwalia questioned the urgency by the state in the matter and said it was mentioned on Tuesday evening and listed. Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for the Punjab government, said it was listed after being approved by the Registry.
Patwalia said he had not been supplied a copy and added that he needed time to prepare. The senior counsel claimed the state had personal malice against his client.
Luthra said that the copy of the plea had been circulated and added that the order granting bail completely ignores Section 37 of NDPS Act. The Punjab and Haryana HC granted him bail on January 4.
However, before he could be released from prison, the Punjab police arrested Khaira in a fresh case registered in the Subhanpur police station under IPC sections 195A (threatening any person to give false evidence) and 506 (criminal intimidation) based on a complaint filed by the wife of a key witness in the 2015 drug case.
On January 15, a court in Kapurthala granted him bail in the second case.
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