Delhi HC dismisses Honeypreet 3-week anticipatory bail plea

Police raided a house in Delhi’s Greater Kailash looking for Honeypreet. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna) 

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday rejected the transit anticipatory bail plea of Honeypreet, adopted daughter of jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, who faces charges of sedition and inciting violence after Ram Rahim’s conviction in two rape cases. Stating that she had evaded arrest and that her plea seeking three-week transit anticipatory bail was not bonafide and was filed only to “gain time”, the court said she was not entitled to any “discretionary relief”.

The violence in Haryana and Punjab — especially in Panchkula and Sirsa areas of Haryana — following the Dera chief’s conviction on August 25 had left more than 40 people dead. The dismissal of her plea came on a day a Haryana Police team from Panchkula returned empty-handed following a raid at a house in Greater Kailash, south Delhi, on a tip-off that Honeypreet, 37, was present there. “The raid was conducted at 7.30 am. Only the caretaker was found. The house was registered in the name of Dera Sacha Sauda,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast) Romil Baaniya said, adding that the Panchkula police team had come with an arrest warrant.

Underlining that a lookout notice was issued against Honeypreet, Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal of HC said that when asked whether she would join the investigations after being granted protection by the court, her counsel had said no. “The counsel…stated that he only had instructions to argue the present application on merits, and that he was seeking the protection of three weeks to approach the High Court of Punjab and Haryana for grant of anticipatory bail,” the court said.

As the defence counsel counsel submitted that Haryana Police had admitted that the “entire atmosphere was unsafe” for Honeypreet in the state, the court said it would first look into the issue of jurisdiction rather than merits of the petition. “I want to know why the application has been moved in Delhi High Court,” the judge asked, to which the counsel said Honeypreet was apprehending arrest in Delhi. The counsel said since there is “nothing on record” against Honeypreet, there is no reason for police interrogation. She was not named in the FIR, nor was any notice issued to her.

In reply, Justice Sehgal said, “The easiest way out is surrender. We will take care.” Counsels for both Delhi and Haryana Police opposed Honeypreet’s plea.