Gurugram: Haryana’s Karnal Parliamentary seat is seeing an uncanny fight — a contest that is being keenly watched in the state’s political circles.
Haryana’s current Youth Congress President, 31-year-old Divyanshu Budhiraja is talking on the 69-year-old Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) candidate and former chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
Budhiraja, also the former president of the National Students’ Union of India, the Congress’ students wing, has a history with Khattar.
In 2018, he was arrested and jailed for protesting and stopping the convoy of then CM Khattar.
The young Congress leader had rallied unemployed youths during the then CM’s visit to Government College, Panchkula. He, along with others, had allegedly intruded on his convoy and raised slogans against the BJP government.
Budhiraja hails from a modest Punjabi Khatri family in Gohana, Sonipat district, Haryana — the same community as Khattar. The Punjabi Khatri community holds significant sway over the constituency, having seen its members secure the seat in both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The successful candidates were journalist Ashwini Kumar Chopra in 2014 and Sanjay Bhatia in 2019 — both from the BJP.
Budhiraja’s father is a retired government clerk from Rohtak, and his mother was a schoolteacher.
While studying at the Panjab University in Chandigarh, he was elected student council president for the 2014-15 academic year.
He became acquainted with Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Singh Hooda, now a Congress nominee from Rohtak. In 2017, Budhiraja was appointed the state NSUI president, a position he held until 2021. He was then elected as the state Youth Congress president, a role he continues to serve.
The young leader is also a proclaimed offender (PO) in a case pending against him in a Panchkula court. However, the proclamation proceedings initiated against him were not for any heinous crime but for “wilful” default in appearing before the court despite several summons and warrants in a case of defacement of public properties lodged against him in 2018, when he led the NSUI protest against Khattar.
Speaking to ThePrint Friday, Budhiraja said that his ticket was announced Thursday night, and he learned about the case against him only Friday morning. He said he has already moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court with a petition to quash the proceedings.
“I am not a Bhagoda (proclaimed offender in Hindi). I am here and roaming about in the open. This government has used all kinds of pressure tactics to suppress my voice. It has got four criminal cases registered against me,” Budhiraja told ThePrint.
Legal experts ThePrint spoke to explained that declaring someone a PO involves issuing a written court proclamation demanding their appearance at a specified place and time when summons and arrest warrants are ineffective.
Section 174A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), introduced in 2005, criminalises the non-appearance of proclaimed offenders at the specified place and time.
Karnal is scheduled to go to the polls on 25 May.
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Court order against Budhiraja
According to the records of the court proceedings accessed by ThePrint, on 7 October, 2023, Dr Rajni Kaushal, the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Panchkula, issued a proclamation order against Budhiraja in a 2018 public property defacement case. Additionally, she instructed the police to compile a list of Budhiraja’s properties for subsequent measures.
In a subsequent hearing on 15 December, the court directed that the SHO of Sector 14 Police Station, Panchkula, be intimated about the proclamation as PO of Divyanshu Budhiraja.
Acting upon the court’s intimation, the police registered an FIR against Budhiraja under IPC Section 174A on 3 January this year.
“Warrant of arrest issued against accused Divyanshu Budhiraja returned unexecuted. From the perusal of the record, it is revealed that sufficient opportunities have already been granted for the execution of warrants of arrest against accused Divanshu Budhiraja. It clearly shows that the accused has due knowledge regarding the pendency of the present case as he was earlier pursuing the same and it seems that the accused is intentionally avoiding the service,” the court records stated.
It added that, in such circumstances, the court is satisfied that the presence of the accused cannot be secured through ordinary means of process.
“Let a proclamation under Section 82 (1) of CrPC 1973 be issued against accused Divyanshu Budhiraja, requiring him to appear before this court at any time within 30 days from the date of publication of the proclamation,” said the order.
The CJM also directed that the proclamation be publicly displayed in the accused’s village or town, affixed to his residence, and a copy posted in the court.
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Case against him
The case against Budhiraja stems from the protest he led as NSUI president.
Based on a complaint by sub-inspector Rajinder Singh of Sector 5 Police Station, Panchkula, an FIR was filed against Budhiraja, Hardik Nain, Pratap Rana, and two to three unidentified individuals, who were arrested under IPC sections 147 (rioting) 186 (obstructing a public servant) 353 (assault on public servant) and 341 (wrongful restraint).
Later, on 28 January, 2018, another FIR was registered at Panchkula’s Sector 14 police station for the defacement of public properties on the complaint by municipal commissioner Rajesh Jogpal.
The complainant, who did not name anyone as accused, alleged that the NSUI had erected hoardings at the Sector 14 roundabout without permission. In this case, the court pronounced Budhiraja, the then-state president of the NSUI, a PO and instructed the SHO to book him under IPC Section 174A.
“It has been noticed that NSUI has erected a number of flex sign boards/hoardings at most roundabouts of Panchkula. No permission has been sought by any individual or association for the erection of these signboards from this corporation. The erection of signboards/hoardings is prohibited under the Haryana Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, 1989,” said the complainant in the FIR, a copy of which is with ThePrint.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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