Punjab & Haryana High Court: Asks Police to Respond on Madhu Kishwar's Plea to Quash Case

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday asked Chandigarh Police to respond to academic Madhu Purnima Kishwar's petition seeking quashing of a case related to circulation of a misleading video about Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media.The X post shared by Kishwar had allegedly claimed that the man receiving a facial massage in the video was the Prime Minister. The claim was later debunked by fact-checkers. Kishwar was eventually booked by Chandigarh Police. Her anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the High Court on May 29. She has now moved a petition for quashing the case registered by Sector 26 police station. Today, Justice Vikram Aggarwal asked the Chandigarh Police to respond to Kishwar's petition. However, the Court also questioned whether it can entertain her petition, considering she has already been denied the relief of anticipatory bail."Parties would also be required to inform the Court as to how, in view of the judgment of a Coordinate Bench in the case of Kuldeep Singh Vs. State of Punjab and others (CRM-M-12541-2026 decided on 06.05.2026), the present petition for quashing of the FIR would be maintainable/entertainable once the anticipatory bail petition filed by the petitioner has been dismissed," the Bench said.The Court was referring to a recent High Court ruling which said that an accused cannot seek quashing of a First Information Report (FIR) immediately after he has been denied anticipatory bail unless there has been a material c