With no video clip, Milind Deora acquitted for voting day violation

Congress leader Milind Deora was acquitted by a magistrate court this week in a case for allegedly violating the model code of conduct on polling day during the 2019 general elections by speaking to the media near a polling booth in south Mumbai.

Deora had purportedly said, “I appeal to all voters of south Mumbai to please elect a good candidate, somebody who can represent effectively, who can raise the constituency profile and restore south Mumbai’s voice once again.” Deora had later lost to Arvind Sawant of the Shiv Sena.

A Sewree magistrate court said in its judgment that he is liable to be acquitted and that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. The Gamdevi police station where an FIR was registered, had failed to produce a CD which contained the video clip of the media byte. The court said that this lapse on the part of the prosecution falsifies its case as the FIR was lodged based on the CD. Metropolitan Magistrate PI Mokashi noted that due to nonproduction of the CD before the court at the time of trial, the prosecution witnesses could not

be confronted with its contents by playing it in court.

The FIR was lodged based on a complaint letter written to the police station by Ghanshyam Anjarlekar, working as an assistant PWD section engineer. He had been deputed as an officer of code of conduct at Vidhansabha Matadar Sangh, Malabar Hill, and had received a letter from the Chief Election Officer Bansi Gavali with a copy of complaint on Twitter and the CD. He had written a complaint letter along with the CD to the Gamdevi police station. The police had recorded his statement and treated it as an FIR. Deora was booked under the Representation of People Act.