The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday granted bail to Baltej Pannu, a social media activist and journalist with a Canada-based Punjabi radio station, in an alleged rape case.
His bail plea was allowed by the single judge bench of justice Anita Chaudhry on a petition moved by Pannu on January 22. Pannu is accused of raping a Patiala woman. The local police had arrested him on November 27 last year.
Pannu had alleged that he became a victim of political vendetta and had been falsely implicated as he was critical of the state government for alleged corruption and the proliferating drug trade.
Pannu was picked up from his residence in Patiala and booked under Sections 376 (rape), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) and 420 (cheating) of the IPC by the Civil Lines, Patiala police.