Mumbai: A Mumbai court on Friday acquitted Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, former CEO of Bank of Scotland Meera Sanyal, activist Medha Patkar, and five Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) members for organising a rally in the city during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
The accused were booked under sections of the Mumbai Police Act for holding a rally in Mankhurd without prior permissions from the Mumbai traffic police. Mr. Kejriwal, Ms. Sanyal, and AAP members Sundar Balkrishna Nayar, Anil Rathod, Shakeel Ahmed, Imtiyaz Ansari, and Ram Bharadwaj were present in the court.
Metropolitan Magistrate P.K. Deshpande acquitted them due to lack of communication of refusal of permission, no promulgation of prohibitory orders, no proof of electronic evidence, irregularities in the investigation, and delay in recording of statements. All of them had to execute a personal bond of ₹15,000.
Advocate Santosh Ahmed appearing for AAP members said, “The rally was scheduled to be taken out from Mankhurd to Vikhroli and no objection certificates were sought and issued by the police of Deonar and Mankhurd. However, at the last minute, the Deonar traffic police cancelled the permission. But by the time the rally had reached Govandi. This was taken into consideration by the court and all the accused were discharged.”
On January 20, 2018, Mr. Kejriwal had surrendered a bail bond of ₹10,000 and a surety at Kurla magistrate court. On December 9, 2015, the magistrate court had granted permanent exemption to Mr. Kejriwal from appearing in the court. Satish Jain, a Mumbai Lok Sabha member of the AAP, filed a surety in the court. Mr. Kejriwal had also approached the Bombay High Court in 2015 for quashing of the FIR against him and to exempt him from appearing before Kurla magistrate court.
In a release, the AAP said, “Mr. Kejriwal was in Mumbai for a politically motivated and frivolous case filed against him for holding a rally in Mankhurd without seeking the requisite permissions during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The judge found that the denial of permission as claimed by the police was not given in writing. Moreover, the judge also found no evidence in support of the charges.”
