NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Wednesday granted former Aam Aadmi Party legislator Somnath Bharti permission to introduce additional material in his defence in connection with a 2014 sexual harassment case.
The supplementary evidence includes seven video clips, which Bharti claims either document media coverage of widespread prostitution in the national capital, particularly in the Khirki Extension locality of Malviya Nagar, or show his alleged attempts to curb the issue.
Special Judge Vishal Gogne of the Rouse Avenue Court also permitted Bharti to place before the court documents related to a separate FIR registered at Malviya Nagar police station.
The Judge said that the revision plea stands allowed and the petitioner is granted liberty to present further material in support of his defence, in accordance with his earlier applications, which are hereby considered and accepted. The development follows Somnath Bharti’s appeal against a November 2024 ruling by a magistrate, which had denied his request to introduce new evidence on record.
The case was initiated following a complaint by an African national, who alleged that in the early hours of January 15–16, 2014, a group of unidentified individuals forcibly entered her rented residence in Khirki Extension, subjected her to physical and verbal abuse and made racist remarks.
She said that they touched her inappropriately, issued threats demanding that she leave the country and hurled derogatory slurs.