The case is linked to a protest held in Chandigarh in 2020 against the increase in electricity tariffs.

The matter was listed on Friday before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant along with Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M Pancholi.

During the hearing, the Centre sought additional time to file petitions related to other accused persons in the case, following which the matter was adjourned.

Earlier, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had ruled that no prima facie case was made out against Bhagwant Mann and other AAP leaders. The High Court observed that there was insufficient material to support the charges registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Based on this, the court had quashed the FIR and charges related to rioting, unlawful assembly, causing injuries to public servants and assault on police personnel.

The High Court had also noted that the alleged nature of provocation by the accused was not specifically mentioned in the case records. According to the court, neither any particular words nor gestures allegedly used to incite violence were identified in the investigation.

The court further observed that leaders could not be held directly responsible merely because members of the crowd later resorted to stone pelting.

The High Court had also pointed out that Section 144 of the CrPC was not in force at the time of the protest, meaning the gathering could not automatically be termed unlawful.

The court additionally noted that the chargesheet itself admitted that around 750 to 800 unidentified persons were yet to be identified and that a supplementary challan was still pending.

The FIR in the matter was registered on January 10, 2020, at Sector-3 police station on the complaint of woman constable Manpreet Kaur.

According to the complaint, AAP workers led by party leaders were marching towards the official residence of then Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh during the protest.

Police alleged that when the crowd was stopped, protesters attempted to break barricades and pushed police personnel. Water cannons were reportedly used to disperse the crowd, after which stone pelting allegedly took place.

The complaint claimed that woman constable Manpreet Kaur, SDOP Krishna, Inspector Malkit Singh and SSP Vineet Kumar sustained injuries during the incident and underwent medical examination afterward.

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