COURTESY HT OCT 14
Somnath Bharti acquitted in 2014 Khirki Extn ‘raid’
AAP MLA Somnath Bharti
HT Correspondent
letters@hindustantimes.com
New Delhi : A Delhi court on Tuesday acquitted former Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti of charges of leading a mob that assaulted an African woman in south Delhi in 2014.
Additional chief metropolitan magistrate (ACMM) Harvinder Singh passed the judgment in the case related to an alleged assault on a citizen of Democratic Republic of Congo, who was then studying at Amity University, Noida. According to the police, on September 26, 2014, the woman was assaulted by a mob allegedly led by the AAP MLA.
“Vide separate judgment directly dictated and pronounced in the open court, accused namely Somnath Bharti stands acquitted for offences punishable under section 323 IPC read with section 149 IPC, section 147 and section 109 IPC,” the court said in a short two-page order.
Bharti did not respond to repeated calls and texts. However, advocate Mohammad Irshad, counsel for Bharti, said that his client has been acquitted by the court after the witnesses and the complainant were untraceable and did not come to the court.
A detailed copy of the judgment is yet to be uploaded on the official website of the Delhi courts.
Police lodged a first information report (FIR) on January 19 against unknown accused on the court’s direction and booked them for various charges dealing with wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation and act intended to insult the modesty of a woman.
On September 29, 2014, a charge sheet was filed by the police against Bharti and 17 others for molestation and creating a ruckus on January 16 midnight when a mob allegedly ‘raided’ a house in south Delhi, police said on Wednesday.
The 18 accused were formally charged under 16 sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 153-A (promoting enmity between classes), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 354 (outraging modesty of women), 509 (uttering any word or making any gesture intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 147 (rioting).
Police, in an over 100-page charge sheet, had cited around 40 prosecution witnesses, including nine African women.
The court had asked the police on September 10 to file the final status report on the investigation.
The court order came on a plea of the woman who sought registration of an FIR against unknown people for creating a ruckus at her house between 1am and 3am in Khirki Extension. The minister had gone to the house after receiving complaints about an alleged prostitution and drug racket in the area.