A Delhi court has convicted AAP MLA Som Dutt for assaulting a man during the 2015 Assembly election campaign.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Samar Vishal held that Dutt, a legislator from Sadar Bazar constituency here, was guilty under sections 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt without provocation) of the Indian Penal Code.
“There is no doubt that on January 10, 2015 at around 8 p.m., Som Dutt, along with 50 supporters, went to flat no. 13 where the complainant [Sanjeev Rana] was present. The complainant was beaten and assaulted by the accused and his associates due to which he suffered grievous injury,” the court said.
The maximum punishment for causing grievous injury is seven years. The court will pronounce the quantum of sentence on July 4.
An FIR was lodged against Dutt in 2015 at the Gulabi Bagh police station in North Delhi.
The prosecutor had alleged that the MLA hit the complainant with a baseball bat while his supporters dragged him out on the road and beat him.
Dutt’s counsel had refuted the allegations and said the complainant entered into a scuffle with Dutt in an inebriated state, while he was campaigning in the society. A cross FIR was also registered by the legislator.
The court has framed charges against Rana in the cross case filed against him by the MLA.
