Chandigarh, Nov. 30 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court on Saturday quashed two criminal cases registered against CM Bhagwant Mann; ministers Harpal Singh Cheema and Aman Arora and some other AAP leaders in 2020-2021 for holding "unlawful protests" in Chandigarh. First FIR was registered by the police on January 10, 2020, against Mann, Cheema and others for leading a march towards then chief minister's house against power tariff hike in Punjab without permission in which some cops had sustained injuries after it turned unruly. Second FIR was registered on October 6, 2021, against minister Aman Arora and others for leading an "unlawful march" towards Governor's House, which also turned unruly and cops sustained injuries. In both the cases, the police had filed the chargesheet. The petitions were filed in high court in 2023, seeking quashing of FIR and consequent proceedings. The allegations were of causing hurt, illegal assembly and obstructing a government servant from performing his or her duties. The petitioners had mainly argued that police could not have thwarted them from conducting peaceful marches being organised against the actions of the government. The petitioners had a fundamental right to protest. Moreover, the injuries cited were of "simple nature", it was claimed. The court ordered quashing of the FIRs taking note of the fact that nobody has been named for allegedly pelting stones on the police and neither it has been alleged that petitioners asked them to do so and further no one was found armed. "There was no reason for the police to stop protesters from marching ahead towards the chief minister's residence as prohibitory orders (against it) had not been issued. Nobody has been named from among the persons present who allegedly pelted stones on the police force. The nature of alleged instigation has also not been mentioned; nor have specific words gestures of any kind been attributed to them," the court observed while dealing with FIR naming Mann as accused. While ordering quashing of the FIRs, the court observed that the trigger for the mob turning furious appears to be the use of water cannons on them as per orders of the duty magistrate....