A criminal contempt petition has been filed against Punjab PCC head Navjot Singh Sidhu before Advocate General Haryana for his alleged 'irresponsible and repeated' attacks on the Punjab and Haryana High court over a major drug case.
The petition was filed by Parampreet Singh Bajwa, a practising advocate in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The Attorney General of Haryana has scheduled a preliminary hearing over the
matter on November 16 at 11 a.m.
According to Advocate Bajwa’s petition, the Congress leader made several public statements, and publications including advance publications about the drug case on the social media
platform, Twitter.
"The respondent (Navjot Singh Sidhu) has made a publication/advance publication in the form of his tweets about the same subject that is already pending before Punjab and Haryana, i.e.,
the drug menace in Punjab," read the petition submitted by the senior advocate.
The petition also stated that, although Navjot Sidhu is not even a party to the case, he tweets in a 'know it all' manner. According to Bajwa, Sidhu tweets about the drug case on
his Twitter account for personal and political gain.
"If the respondent was genuinely interested in the matter, he ought to have joined the proceedings and raised all of the issues. On the contrary, he used a public platform like Twitter
to announce his version and even judged the entire case that was pending before the court," stated Mr Bajwa.
Also Read: In Adampur, CM Channi takes on Akalis for misusing BSP as pawn for their political gain
Sidhu, according to Advocate Bajwa, has used his position of authority and status as a public figure to explicitly prejudge the entire issue before this court makes a decision.
Advocate Bajwa went on to say that Sidhu is desperately trying to direct the High Court through his tweets, which is not appropriate. Sidhu should not meddle with the court's procedures.
In addition, the advocate included Sidhu's tweets in his petitions.
According to Mr Bajwa, there is currently no Advocate General in Punjab thus he has filed a complaint with the AG Haryana. The state is also a party in the drug case.
"Sidhu's tweet pressurizes the court," he asserted.
Here are a few tweets by Sidhu over the drug case:
STF report on multi-crore Drug racket linked to Majithia will be opened today by Hon’ble High Court. After more than 3.5 yrs of wait Judiciary will name the main culprits
— Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) October 13, 2021
A Priority among High Command’s 18 Point Agenda yet Mothers of Punjab are still awaiting action by the State