Saini files report to High Court, judges say come through Govt

A division bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, comprising Justice Amar Dutt and Justice Kiran Anand Lall, today took exception to th...

A division bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, comprising Justice Amar Dutt and Justice Kiran Anand Lall, today took exception to the Special Investigative Team (SIT)—headed by IGP Sumedh Saini—bypassing the Punjab Advocate General’s office and submitting its report directly to the High Court regarding allegations against The Indian Express Principal Correspondent Gautam Dheer.

Anupam Gupta, who had been engaged by Saini as his counsel, had submitted a report in a sealed cover to the bench just before it took up the case for hearing today.

The bench asked Punjab Advocate General R S Cheema whether he had been supplied a copy of the report and whether he was aware of the contents.

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However, Cheema said that he was apprised by an SP this morning that the SIT wanted to hand it over directly to the court through its lawyer, Anupam Gupta.

The report was brought to the court by DSP Ropar Harpreet Singh and handed over directly to the two judges.

The bench observed that the report should have been submitted through the AG and pointed out that ‘‘no one was above the law.’’ It said that systems had to be protected and directed the SIT to submit the report through the AG.

The bench referred to para 12 of their orders which clearly stated the High Court had requested the DGP to constitute an SIT into the Nayagaon minor rape case. Gupta, who had also made a specific request on behalf of his client that the contents of the report were not be divulged to anyone, not even to the state, apologised saying that this was not the intention of his client and that there was no objection to the report being handed over to the court though the AG.

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Gupta also said that his client was willing to step down from the SIT if the court so desired. The bench, while stating that rule of law must prevail, directed that the hearing be adjourned till September 13.

Meanwhile, an application was moved by The Indian Express Principal correspondent, Gautam Dheer, seeking delinking of his case from the main case and an inquiry into it by an independent agency including the CBI. The case would now come up for hearing on Sept 13.