Congress leader Bajwa intended to disturb peace in Punjab with ‘50 bombs’ remark: FIR

Leader of opposition and Congress MLA Partap Singh Bajwa was booked on the complaint of Punjab Police woman constable Taranpreet Kaur on Sunday for providing misleading information with the intention to disturb peace by claiming that 50 bombs have reached the border state.

Constable Taranpreet Kaur, who is a social media cell operator of Punjab Police in Mohali, stated in her complaint that as part of her duty of cyber monitoring, she was scrolling through social media posts/sites when she came across the objectionable post on Facebook.

“This post contains a statement/interview by leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, wherein he claims that 50 grenades have reached the state of Punjab, out of which 18 have been used and 32 remain to be detonated across the state. From the contents of the interview, it is evident that Bajwa did not disclose the source of this information or the possible targets against whom the grenades are to be used,” the FIR read.

She said that by making such a statement, he intended to disturb public peace and tranquillity, creating a sense of fear, ill will, and enmity among different communities.

“This interview appears to have been given intentionally to create disharmony by spreading false and misleading information that jeopardises public peace, unity, and integrity,” the constable said.

Acting on her complaint, Bajwa was booked under Sections 197(1)(d) (false and misleading information that endangers the country’s sovereignty and unity) and 353(2) (false statements intend to create enmity and hatred or ill will), a non-bailable offence, of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at the cyber crime police station in Phase-7, Mohali, on Sunday night.

A copy of the FIR was handed over to Bajwa’s counsel following the Mohali court’s order on Monday afternoon. Bajwa failed to appear before the cyber crime police station on Monday noon and sought time till 2pm on Tuesday to face questioning.