The Delhi High Court was told on Tuesday that AAP MLA Kuldeep Kumar, who was leading a protest over the murder of a sanitation worker, had been detained as a preventive measure and was later released.
The submission was made before a bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Ravinder Dudeja which was hearing a habeas corpus petition following alleged illegal detention of Kumar.
The bench said, "We are of the opinion that the purpose of the present petition has been served after Kumar's release. For other reliefs, the petitioner's family will be at liberty to take appropriate legal recourse."
Earlier in the day, the matter was mentioned for urgent hearing before a bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia, which allowed the petition to be listed on Tuesday.
Senior advocate Shadan Farasat, appearing for Kumar, said that some men in plain clothes "picked up" the legislator on Tuesday morning and since then, the family of the lawmaker from Kondli has tried to contact the police but there is no information on his location.
"He was leading a protest yesterday against the murder of a sanitation worker in the jurisdiction and seeking compensation. Today morning, he was picked up," the counsel added.
He further said that minutes before the hearing commenced, they have been informed that the MLA has been released.
The police informed the court that Kumar was taken into preventive detention early morning and was released at 3.48 pm.
Hundreds of sanitation workers and auto-tipper drivers from across Delhi protested at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital on Monday over the killing of an on-duty sanitation worker in Kalyanpuri.
They demanded Rs 1 crore compensation and a permanent government job for a member of his family.
The victim, Anil, was a contractual sanitation worker engaged by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) through a private company and was allegedly stabbed while collecting garbage in Kalyanpuri on the morning of August 16.
(With inputs from PTI)