In a significant escalation of the ongoing political face-off in Punjab, an FIR has been lodged against senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders and unidentified social media handlers following a complaint by Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa. The Congress leader has accused the ruling party of editing and circulating a doctored video to defame him and distort his statement regarding the conduct of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau.
According to the FIR (ICMS/2025/022265), lodged at Cyber Crime Police Station, Sector 17, Chandigarh, Bajwa alleged that AAP leaders Harpal Singh Cheema and Aman Arora, along with unknown social media handlers of the AAP’s official accounts on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, manipulated a video he had posted on June 25, 2025. The original video, 3 minutes and 48 seconds long, featured Bajwa condemning the alleged unlawful entry by Vigilance Bureau officials into the home of MLA Ganieve Kaur, wife of Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia.
Bajwa stated that the AAP leaders edited out all references to Ganieve Kaur and presented the video as if he was supporting Majithia himself, who is facing investigation. “This was a deliberate attempt to mislead the public, harm my political reputation, and portray me as someone siding with the accused,” Bajwa said in his complaint.
He further alleged that the edited clip was circulated widely by Cheema and Arora on their personal social media accounts, as well as from official AAP Punjab pages, with the intent to malign his image and that of the Congress party. “This is not just political rivalry, it’s targeted defamation and misuse of digital platforms,” he said.
The FIR has been registered under Sections 336(4), 356, and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. SI Jaskirandeep Kaur is leading the investigation, as per the police report.
Bajwa also stated that he would continue to provide any further evidence that emerges and urged the police to investigate the full chain of events, including how the video was edited and disseminated. “Freedom of speech does not include the right to fabricate. This act is criminal, not political,” he emphasized.
The complaint comes at a time when tensions between the Congress and AAP are already high in Punjab, with both parties frequently clashing over issues of governance, corruption, and institutional misuse. With the lodging of this FIR, the matter is likely to take a more legal and confrontational turn in the coming days.
