New Delhi, Apr 24 A Delhi court on Friday acquitted former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Somnath Bharti in a 2014 case, in which he was accused of assaulting African women following an alleged midnight raid at Khirki Extension here.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Neha Mittal acquitted Bharti of the charge levelled against him in an FIR lodged at the Malviya Nagar police station, saying the witnesses' statements were inadmissible as they failed to appear and depose before the court.
"Any unlawful assembly could not be proved.... The prosecution failed to prove its case," the magistrate said, quoting the substantive portion of the verdict.
According to the chargesheet, on the intervening night of January 15-16, 2014, Bharti, the then law minister of Delhi, and 16 others reached Khirki Extension at Malviya Nagar.
They assaulted Ugandan women living in rented accommodation there, accusing them of being involved in illegal activities, including prostitution, the chargesheet had alleged.
An FIR was lodged on a court's direction after a Ugandan woman filed a plea on January 18, 2014. She had sought the registration of a criminal case against unidentified persons in connection with the incident.
In 2018, a magisterial court framed charges against Bharti and others under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 147/149 (rioting), 354 (molestation), 354C (voyeurism), 342 (wrongful confinement), 506 (criminal intimidation), 143 (unlawful assembly), 509 (outraging a woman's modesty), 153A (promoting enmity between two groups or religions), 323 (assault), 452 (house trespass), 427 (criminal trespass) and 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions).
It rejected Bharti's argument that he was a minister at the time of the incident and that the State would, therefore, require a sanction from the government to prosecute him.
"This does not seem to be a valid argument as by no stretch of imagination it can be assumed that whatever offences are alleged to have been done by accused Somnath Bharti can be said to have been done in the discharge of his official duties. I am unable to understand what official duty prompted him to assault the helpless women of foreign origin in the midnight," the magistrate had said.
