NEW DELHI: A court has discharged Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and two Aam Aadmi Party MLAs in a case of allegedly violating prohibitory orders and obstructing public servants during an agitation in 2014.
The sessions court said there was no sufficient evidence to put them on trial. The court passed the order on a plea by AAP legislators Somnath Bharti and Rakhi Birla challenging a magisterial court’s July 5 order by which charges were framed against them, paving the way for their trial.
The MLAs had said in their plea that the magisterial court had erred in framing charges against them.
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The trial court had on July 5 framed charges against the accused persons, saying there was sufficient evidence to conclude that a prima facie case and “grave suspicion” was made out against them.
It framed the charges after the accused pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.
The charges were framed under section 143 and 145 (both related to unlawful assembly) and 188 (disobedience to an order by a public servant) of IPC, and under section 147 (rioting), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) of IPC, read with section 149 (unlawful assembly) of IPC.
The trial court, however, had discharged AAP leader Sanjay Singh and its former member Ashutosh, saying “there is no evidence on record against them regarding their participation in the aforementioned offences”.
The six accused were earlier granted bail by the court. Kejriwal and other leaders had staged a ‘dharna’ outside Rail Bhavan demanding action against police officials who had refused to carry out a raid on an alleged drug and prostitution racket in South Delhi on January 20, 2014.
In its charge sheet, the police had claimed that on January 19, 2014 the Assistant Commissioner of Police had imposed prohibitory orders in North Block, South Block, Vijay Chowk areas near Rail Bhavan and Parliament Street. The AAP leaders assembled there the very next day.