FIR against Punjab ministers Harpal Cheema, Aman Arora over ‘doctored video’ of LoP Partap Bajwa
Partap Bajwa said the edited video portrayed that he was defending SAD’s Bikram Majithia, who was accused in a vigilance case, when he was actually criticising the officers' treatment of Majithia’s wife Ganieve Kaur.
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Punjab Cabinet ministers Harpal Singh Cheema and Aman Arora. (File)The Cyber Crime Cell of Chandigarh Police Friday registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Punjab Cabinet ministers Harpal Singh Cheema and Aman Arora on charges of defamation and criminal conspiracy for allegedly circulating a doctored video pertaining to Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa.
The FIR also mentions an unidentified media handler of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the admins of AAP Punjab’s social media accounts on X and Facebook.
In his complaint, Congress leader Bajwa said that he frequently raises his voice against the “illegalities and excesses” committed by the AAP-led Punjab government and claimed that AAP leaders and media associates conspired to fabricate and circulate a doctored video to malign his image and misrepresent his political stance.
Bajwa said the Punjab Vigilance Bureau had recently registered an FIR against Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia and that during their investigation, the officers unlawfully entered the private residence of his wife Ganieve Kaur, who is an MLA. Bajwa called this act “an unacceptable and illegal intrusion” into a woman’s legislator’s private space.
According to the complaint, Bajwa had posted a video on June 25, 2025, on his official X handle criticising the Vigilance Bureau’s treatment of Kaur, and drew parallels with a similar case involving Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira. Bajwa alleged that the AAP’s Punjab social media team, however, edited the video to remove references to Kaur and her status as a legislator. The altered video, he said, falsely portrayed that he was defending Majithia, an accused in the case.
Bajwa said the video was widely circulated by senior AAP leaders. He named Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema and Minister for Printing and Stationery Aman Arora, alleging that they shared the edited clip via their official Facebook accounts and the party’s social media pages. Bajwa said the video was intentionally propagated to damage his reputation and that of the Congress party.
“I was defamed, maligned, and falsely shown as supporting individuals under prosecution, whereas my actual concern was the misuse of power by Vigilance officials — an issue deliberately edited out,” Bajwa said in his statement to the Chandigarh Police.
The FIR has been registered under sections 336(4) (forgery with intent to harm reputation), 356 (defamation), and 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Further investigation is underway into the matter, said a police officer.
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