Mafia boss Lawrence Bishnoi's interview in September 2022 - to a private channel while in police custody - was red-flagged, again, by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday, which criticised the cops for providing a "studio-like facility" that led to "glorification of crime".
The court - as part of a suo moto hearing into prisoners using mobile phones and other electronic devices - reprimanded the Punjab government for failing to follow an August 2024 order directing disciplinary action against senior cops who facilitated Bishnoi's interview.
Justice Anupinder Singh and Lapita Banerji noted "police officers allowed the criminal to use (an) electronic device and provided a studio-like facility to conduct the interview, which tends to glorify crime with potential to facilitate other crimes by the criminal and his associates".
The involvement of senior police officers "may suggests receipt of illegal gratification from the criminal or his associates" the court said, underscoring the need for further investigation.
The court ordered a fresh inquiry - to be a three-member team led by Prabodh Kumar, the Special Director-General of Police attached to the state's Human Right Commission.
Mr Kumar told the court the team did not have the mandate to conduct this inquiry, but his objection was overruled, and the SIT was told to "carry out further investigation towards criminal conspiracy, abetment, (and) forgery", and file a report within six weeks.
The sharp remarks about gangster Lawrence Bishnoi - whose gang also has a base in Canada, and has been linked to criminal activities, including murder and extortion, in that country - came as the High Court questioned a closure report filed by the SIT, or special investigation team.
Lawrence Bishnoi, whom the court noted is involved in 71 criminal cases in Punjab alone, including four under anti-terror law UAPA, is also a suspect in the murder of popular Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala. He was interviewed by a Hindi news channel in March 2023.
The interview allegedly took place in the presence of senior Punjab cops and constituted a "security breach", the High Court said, as it also rapped the police for the extended time taken - over eight months - to submit "an inconclusive report" into the alleged security breach.
In its August order the court had demanded action against the senior cops involved, and also warned the Punjab government against making "scapegoats" of the junior officers.
Last week seven cops were suspended, but only two were officers - Deputy Superintendents Gursheer Singh and Sammer Vaneet. "No action seems to have been taken against the senior officers of the district..." an irate court remarked and called on the Punjab Police chief to answer.
The court also asked the police chief to explain why he had said, in an earlier press conference, the interview did not take place in a Punjab jail when it did so in the state's SAS Nagar district.
Also, in today's hearing the High Court noted the internet connection at the police station to which Bishnoi had been transferred (for the interview) had been used. All this, the court said, is a "pointer towards criminal conspiracy" and a nexus between the erring cops and the criminals.
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"He has (also) reiterated and justified (his) threat to a film actor," the court further noted, referring to death threats to Bollywood star Salman Khan that have made headlines over the past months.
The court was also irked by copies of the interview resurfacing online despite a December order that it be removed from all social media platforms. "These interviews are stated to have garnered over 12 million views. It would have an adverse impact upon youngsters with impressionable minds. Punjab is a border state and any deterioration in law and order or increase in crime could affect national security."
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Copies of the interview resurfaced online after the October 13 murder of Maharashtra politician Baba Siddiqui, who was a member of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's NCP faction.
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