4 July: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has adjourned the hearing on former Punjab cabinet minister Bikram Singh Majithia’s petition challenging his recent arrest and remand orders, setting the next hearing for July 8. The Bench of Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya asked the State counsel to seek necessary instructions from the government before the matter proceeds further.
Majithia, in his petition filed through lawyers Sartej Singh Narula, Damanbir Singh Sobti, and Arshdeep Singh Cheema, argued that his arrest and the remand orders were illegal and driven by political vendetta. He alleged that the case was purely an act of “political witch-hunt” aimed at silencing him as an outspoken opponent of the current government.
The petition states that the FIR, registered on June 25 by the Vigilance Bureau under the Prevention of Corruption Act, was baseless, and that his arrest from his residence in Mohali the same day violated established legal norms. Majithia claims he was detained illegally for more than two hours before being officially arrested at 11:20 am — a detention period he says breached constitutional safeguards which require an arrested person to be presented before a magistrate within 24 hours.
He further argued that the remand application submitted by the investigating agency contained only broad allegations with no specific grounds for custodial interrogation, and was aimed at extracting a forced confession — violating constitutional protections under Article 20(3).
Majithia also challenged the Judicial Magistrate’s order dated June 26, which granted police remand until July 2, describing it as procedurally flawed and lacking judicial application of mind. He pointed out that the Supreme Court had earlier declined custodial interrogation on similar grounds and directed him to cooperate with the Special Investigation Team, which he claims he did fully.
The petition asserts that the remand order disregarded binding judicial precedents and statutory rules of the High Court, failing to record necessary reasons or examine case diaries as required. This, Majithia argued, resulted in a clear violation of his fundamental rights under Articles 14, 20, and 21 of the Constitution.
He has requested the court to quash the remand order and issue directions to prevent further misuse of legal powers against him.
