Court discharges Sisodia, 2 others for ‘Tihar protest’
NEWDELHI: A Delhi court on Saturday discharged Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAS Amanatullah Khan and Sanjeev Jha in a case pertaining to a protest rally outside Tihar jail in 2014.
The protest was staged by Sisodia and the others after Arvind Kejriwal , who was then AAP convener, was taken into judicial custody when he refused to furnish a bail bond in a defamation case filed by BJP leader Nitin Gadkari.
Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Samar Vishal granted relief to the three men, saying there was a delay of four years in filing the charge sheet against the accused “without any valid reason”.
The court noted that police records state that the primary investigation into the case was completed within a few days of the incident.
The Patiala House court took note of the submissions made by advocate Mohammad Irshad, appearing for the AAP leaders, that there was no allegation that any of the accused person were absconding or hiding.
The final report had accused 59 persons, including some AAP lawmakers and workers, of joining or continuing in unlawful assembly, knowing that it has been commanded to disperse, and disobedience to the order duly promulgated by a public servant.
In May 2014, a Delhi court had sent Kejriwal to two-day judicial custody after he refused to furnish the bail amount of ₹10,000. With their leader in Tihar, party members and AAP supporters gathered outside the high-security jail to protest against the arrest and clashed with the police.
While the government refused to comment on the issue, a media advisor to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that this was “yet another Delhi police fiasco” where a fast-track court has “thrown out” its charge sheet and given the AAP leaders a clean chit.
This is the second case this month wherein AAP leaders have been discharged by a court.
The Delhi police had filed as many as 22 cases against AAP, of which at least 19 cases have ended in discharge or acquittal.