The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday ordered the release of Majitha resident Jobanpreet Singh, terming his arrest “illegal and unconstitutional”.Jobanpreet’s father Mukhwant Singh had approached the high court challenging the arrest of his son.The order was passed by the bench of justice Alok Jain while hearing a habeas corpus petition regarding the alleged illegal detention of Jobanpreet by the Majitha police.Jobanpreet’s father Mukhwant Singh had approached the high court challenging the arrest of his son. The plea stated that the detainee had served as a poll agent of a Akali Dal candidate in the recently held municipal elections. “The filing of the false FIR and the illegal arrest of the detainee are a direct and malicious consequence of the political rivalry arising from the election results, and constitute a gross abuse of the police machinery for political purposes,” he alleged.The petitioner had argued that the arrest had been carried out in violation of Article 22 of the Constitution and Section 35 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). It was also stated that the mandatory legal safeguards governing arrests had not been complied with and that the detention was therefore unlawful.After the hearing, advocates DS Sobti and AS Kler said, “The high court held that the arrest was unconstitutional and observed that the initial process adopted by the police did not satisfy the requirements of law. The court directed the jail authorities to release the detenue Jobanpreet Singh and disposed of the corpus petition.”They said, the court also granted liberty to the state and the police authorities to proceed in accordance with law. The court clarified that if the police require Jobanpreet’s custody in connection with the matter, they would be at liberty to arrest him afresh by following the due process prescribed under law. The detailed order is awaited.On Sunday, members of a farmers’ union, along with senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia and his supporters, staged a protest outside Majitha police station against Jobanpreet’s arrest, alleging that he had been falsely implicated in a fabricated case.The police maintained that Jobanpreet had been nominated among 15 unidentified persons accused in a case relating to the alleged assault on AAP worker Paramjit Singh Pamma and the snatching of a gold chain during the elections. The Amritsar Rural police alleged that Majithia and around 50-60 others “stormed” the police station and “tried to forcibly release a detainee from police custody.”