AAP MLA Somnath Bharti was on Saturday sentenced to two years in jail by a Delhi court for assaulting AIIMS security staff in September 2016 with the party claiming that injustice has been done to its leader.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Pandey also imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on him but granted bail to enable him to file an appeal before Delhi High Court against his conviction in the case and jail term. AAP said Bharti will be filing the appeal.
On September 9, 2016, Bharti along with nearly 300 others were accused of bringing down the fence of a boundary wall at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) with a JCB operator and assaulted the security staff.
"The court is of the considered view that the prosecution has duly proved its case beyond all reasonable doubt against accused Somnath Bharti," the magistrate said though he acquitted co-accused -- Jagat Saini, Dileep Jha, Sandeep Sonu and Rakesh Pandey -- citing a lack of evidence against them.
The court convicted Bharti for various offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (assault or use of criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 147 (rioting) as well as section 3 (mischief causing damage to public property) of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act. The offences carry a maximum punishment of five years in jail.
Bharti had claimed that police and other witnesses had deposed against him in order to falsely implicate him in the case.
In a statement, AAP said, "We are confident that justice will be done to him at the appellate level...We respect the judiciary and have full faith in the judiciary. However, we feel injustice has happened to Somnath Bharti in this case. Somnath is a very popular leader and is loved by everyone in his constituency. He works 24 hours for his people. People are quite sad in his constituency as the news of his conviction is spreading."
(Published 23 January 2021, 10:21 IST)
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