NEW DELHI: A court here on Thursday discharged AAP MLA Sharad Chauhan and five others in a case of abetment to suicide of a woman party worker in 2016.
Special judge M K Nagpal, however, directed to frame charges against one of Chauhan’s associates, Ramesh Bhardwaj, saying there was sufficient prima facie evidence to hold him responsible.
Bhardwaj was also accused in a sexual harassment case filed by the deceased. According to the complaint, the main accused Bhardwaj was a close associate of Chauhan and, therefore, the politician always protected and sheltered him in the sexual harassment incident.
The judge held that simply because Chauhan was the local MLA and Bhardwaj, or any other accused was close to him, cannot be considered as an incriminating circumstance against him to hold him prima facie responsible for the offence of abetment of suicide by the deceased, either in pursuance of the said criminal conspiracy or individually.
According to the prosecution, the woman had consumed a poisonous substance at her home in North-West Delhi’s Narela and died during treatment at LNJP Hospital. The woman had filed a complaint against Bhardwaj for alleged sexual harassment.