Reasonable Grounds To Believe That He Was Not Innocent: Delhi HC Denies Bail To British National Jagtar Singh Johal In UAPA Cases

The Delhi High Court refused to grant bail to British National Jagtar Singh Johal, saying that there are reasonable grounds to believe that he was not an innocent person.

The Court was deciding a batch of seven appeals filed by the accused against five orders in separate cases, by which the Special Court rejected his applications seeking bail.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Prathiba M. Singh and Justice Amit Sharma said, “… there are reasonable grounds to believe that the Appellant was not an innocent person, but was prima facie associated with the KLF. He had knowledge of the KLF and its activities and the charges have, in fact, been framed against him under Section 302 read with 120B of IPC and Sections 16, 17, 18, 18A and 20 of the Act. The framing of charges shows that the Petitioner has a higher threshold to cross. In Gurwinder Singh (Supra) the framing of charges is held to create a strong suspicion/presumptive opinion as to the existence of the factual ingredients constituting the offences alleged against the accused.”

Advocate Paramjeet Singh appeared on behalf of the appellant/accused while ASG S.V. Raju and Spl. PP Shilpa Singh appeared on behalf of the respondent/National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Brief Facts -

The appeals arose from a series of connected murders and attempt to murders that took place during the latter half of 2010 in Ludhiana and Jalandhar districts of Punjab. Following these incidents, the Punjab police filed ten FIRs against various persons including the appellant/accused. The State, upon identifying these murders and attempt to murders to be a part of a transnational conspiracy that intended to destabilise the law and order situation in Punjab, transferred a batch of connected FIRs to NIA.

The NIA then re-registered the transferred FIRs and upon investigation, chargesheets were filed in the respective cases before the NIA Special Court and the trials were in progress. The cases for the offences of murder under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 (UAPA) were registered against the accused. Meanwhile, applications for bail were made by the accused but the same were rejected. Hence, he was before the High Court.

The High Court in view of the facts and circumstances of the case, observed, “At this stage, there are grounds to believe that the allegations against the Appellant are prima facie true. At the time when the Punjab and Haryana High Court had granted interim bail to the Appellant i.e., 15th March 2022, which was not interfered with by the Supreme Court, the charges were not yet framed. The charges were framed in RC.No.25/2017 on 3rd August 2022 and in RC.No.27/2017 on 15th October 2022 respectively. As held in Gurwinder Singh (supra) the framing of charges changes the considerations of bail in such cases, as a very strong suspicion exists.”

The Court noted that the appellant-accused has not argued in detail on merits before the Trial Court. Considering the nature of the provision i.e., Section 43D(5) of UAPA, the evidence and witness statements, the Court said that there is a high possibility of the accused, upon being released, extending threats to witnesses.

“The possibility of the Appellant again participating in activities of the KLF cannot be ruled out. In respect of persons involved with such organisations, even a small role played by a particular individual can have a major impact and can cause loss of human life and threaten the safety and security of the public”, it added.

The Court further noted that the accused who has travelled extensively and holds a British passport, may also pose a flight risk, as he appears well connected within the KLF (Khalistan Liberation Force), having an international network and hence, he fails even the Tripod test and not eligible to be released on bail.

“Needless to add that the Trial Court ought to take urgent steps to expedite the trial. The N.I.A is also directed to lead the evidence of its witnesses including the protected witnesses on early date so as to ensure that the trial proceeds in a speedier manner”, it also directed.

Accordingly, the High Court dismissed the appeals and denied bail to the accused.

Cause Title- Jagtar Singh Johal @ Jaggi v. National Investigation Agency (Neutral Citation: 2024:DHC:7110-DB)

Appearance:

Appellant: Advocate Paramjeet Singh

Respondent: ASG S.V. Raju, Spl. PP Shilpa Singh, PP Zeena Malick, and Advocate Nishchay Johri.

Click here to read/download the Judgment