sEPTEMBER, 26 CHANDIGARH - The Delhi high court dismissed on Tuesday the transit anticipatory bail plea of HONEYPREET iNSAAN, the absconding aide of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.
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Honeypreet Insan is said to be the closest aide of Ram Rahim. Police are on her trail and searches have been conducted in many places including Rajasthan, Bihar and Haryana.
Earlier, Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal, after hearing arguments on behalf of Honeypreet and the police of Delhi and Haryana, said, “the easiest way out for you would be to surrender”.
Deputy commissioner of police (south east) Romil Baaniya said, “Raids were conducted today (Tuesday) morning at A-9 Greater Kailash with arrest warrant against Honeypreet. Later, it was confirmed that she was not sighted here in the recent past nor she is staying here currently.”
The raid was conducted as Priyanka Taneja alias Honeypreet Insan’s lawyer claimed that she had visited his office in Delhi on Monday to sign the anticipatory bail application.
Honeypreet, in her mid-30s, is on the run since August 25, hours after Ram Rahim was convicted of raping two women followers.
She has been the closest aide of Ram Rahim since 2009. Police are on her trail for nearly a month and raids have been conducted in Nepal, Rajasthan, Bihar and Haryana.
Honeypreet is facing charges of sedition and tops the list of 43 people wanted by Haryana Police in connection with the violence that followed Ram Rahim’s conviction.
Ram Rahim was convicted by the special CBI court in Panchkula on August 25, following which violence and arson erupted in Panchkula and Sirsa districts of Haryana which claimed 41 lives and left many injured.
The Delhi high court asked Honeypreet’s counsel to satisfy it as to how its territorial jurisdiction can be invoked and said it would take care of her rights only after that.
“First you come on jurisdiction. Why has the plea been moved here... You surrender in Delhi and we will take care,” the judge saidTransit anticipatory bail application is meant to seek protection against arrest during her transit from Delhi to Haryana for joining the probe.
Honeypreet’s advocate sought the relief saying she was a woman who was not running away and was ready to join the probe if protected by the court.
The plea was opposed by the counsel for Delhi and Haryana police who said it was “a ploy to do ‘forum shopping’” and, by giving a wrong address of a Delhi property, she was “hoodwinking” the court.
On the claim of Honeypreet’s counsel that she was facing threat to her life as the atmosphere in Haryana was not good, Mehra said if she was a law-abiding citizen, she should surrender and Delhi Police, which is considered the best in India, will ensure that no harm is caused to her.
Additional Advocate General of Haryana Anil Grover said Honeypreet’s passport showed her address to be of Sirsa in Haryana, and the place where a person is roaming around cannot decide jurisdiction for filing the bail plea.
“Forum shopping is the exact name for such petitions. Where was she all this while and where is she now is anybody’s guess. She is not coming clean before this court,” Grover said.