NEW DELHI, Mar 26:
A Delhi court today fixed March 30 for pronouncing its order on whether to direct the police to conduct further probe in three cases in which Arvind Kejriwal and other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) members were chargesheeted for allegedly rioting and unlawful assembly during their protests.
Metropolitan Magistrate Jay Thareja, who was scheduled to pass the order today, posted the matter for March 30 saying the order was not prepared.
The court had on March 18 reserved its order for today after hearing the arguments in which Delhi police had said they had fulfilled all requirements for imposing prohibitory order under section 144 of CrPC during the protests by AAP members in front of the Prime Minister’s residence and other places here on August 26 last year.
During the hearing, advocate Prashant Bhushan, AAP member and an accused in the case, had argued that imposition of section 144 was a “clear abuse of process by the police” and it was “designed to harass them”.
During the arguments, police had faced a tough time with the court asking it to explain why section 144 of the CrPC was imposed in the New Delhi area.
The police had told the court that section 144 was imposed in some parts of the New Delhi district but the prohibitory orders were based on security inputs.
The court’s remarks had come during hearing arguments on a plea of Kejriwal, Bhushan, Manish Sisodia and 23 other accused who had sought discharge in the case relating to charges of rioting, unlawful assembly, use of force to obstruct public servants from discharging their duty and damaging public property filed against them after protests on August 26, 2012.
All the 26 accused were earlier released by the court after they appeared before it following summons issued against them in connection with three separate rioting cases.
According to the charge sheet, on August 26 last year, the accused had violated CrPC Sec 144 and staged a protest outside the residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi against the coal block allocation scam.
Police had alleged the accused damaged public property during the protest and some of their senior officers were injured.
Police had registered three FIRs against them under various sections of the IPC which deal with charges of rioting, unlawful assembly and use of force to obstruct public servants from discharging their duty as well as section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act. (PTI)
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