Punjabi actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu was on Tuesday, 23 February, sent to 14 days of judicial custody in connection with the Red Fort violence on Republic Day, as his seven-day police custody ended, reported Live Law.
Sidhu was produced before Metropolitan Magistrate Samarjeet Kaur.
The court had on Tuesday, 16 February, extended his police custody by seven days, after the expiry of the originally ordered seven-day police remand.
Sidhu was arrested by the Delhi Police on 8 February in connection with the Republic Day violence during the farmers’ tractor rally in Delhi and later remanded to a seven-day police custody.
The police arrested Sidhu from Karnal in Haryana, while he was waiting for someone to pick him up.
Sidhu faces charges of rioting, attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy, dacoity, culpable homicide among others, according to Hindustan Times.
Events So Far With Sidhu
Sidhu was one of the first celebrity voices at the fore of the farmers’ protest that started in November 2020 against the Centre’s contentious new farm laws.
Sidhu had earlier admitted to raising the Nishan Sahib flag at the Red Fort during the 26 January unrest in Delhi, following which farm union leaders accused him of provoking farmers to change the designated route of the tractor rally and march to the Red Fort.
Several farm leaders accused him of being planted by the BJP to derail the movement and give the protests a violent turn in order to defame them.
After a video of Sidhu being chased by protesting farmers at the protest site went viral, he was claimed to be absconding. However, according to reports, Sidhu told the police that the reason for him having been in hiding was because “his life was at risk”.
(With inputs from Live Law and Hindustan Times)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)