Court junks plea to restrain ‘leak’ of chargesheet

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Saturday dismissed a plea filed by 13 AAP MLAs, including chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia, seeking to restrain the Delhi Police from “leaking” to the media the contents of the chargesheet relating to the alleged assault on chief secretary Anshu Prakash.

When the counsel appearing for the AAP leaders submitted a CD containing news report clippings where additional deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Harendra Singh was quoted by the media sharing the contents of the chargesheet, the additional chief metropolitan magistrate Samar Vishal suggested that the AAP file a fresh application.

In the plea, the Delhi Police have been accused of “selectively leaking” excerpts of the chargesheet to the media on August 13 “to assassinate the character of the persons mentioned in the chargesheet, especially Kejriwal and Sisodia”.

Advocate BS Joon, appearing for the AAP MLAs, told the court that Delhi Police had not replied to the application even though a notice has been issued to them.

Meanwhile countering the submission, additional DCP Singh claimed that the application had been filed by AAP leaders to ‘malign the police’s image.’

“The things that I mentioned (to the media) were public information. AAP had held a press conference after the chargesheet was filed and made remarks like: ‘ye toh kachra hai’. They are casting aspersions on my integrity,” Singh said in court. Joon countered by saying that police officers are ruled by a set of guidelines, while political parties are not.

The plea filed before the court after Delhi police’s chargesheet, states that the matter is subjudice and that the court is yet to take cognizance of the charges. “The act of the investigating agency (Delhi Police), is an interference in the administration of justice, as their intention is to create hype to influence the proceedings,” it stated. The application said that if the police are not restrained, it would cause “irreparable loss to the image of the CM and his deputy and the proceeding in the case would also be affected.”