CM Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy CM Manish Sisodia And 9 Others Were Released By Delhi Court Regarding The Chief Secretary Assault Case

BACKGROUND OF THE CASE

• Based on Prakash’s complaint, an FIR was registered.
• In the complaint he had alleged that he was called and assaulted at CM’s residence on February 19, 2018, at 12 midnight.
• He claimed that it was a premediated plan and a conspiracy intending to cause hurt and to stop him from carrying out his lawful duty and force him to follow unlawful directions.
• He stated that he was called for discussing the issue of difficulty in the release of certain T.V. advertisements relating to the three years completion of current Government, but instead was assaulted and intimidated.

ACCUSED PEOPLE

• Based on a hatched criminal conspiracy and unlawful assembly, Kejriwal, Sisodia, Rajesh Rishi, Sanjeev Jha, Rajesh Gupta, Madan Lal and Dinesh Mohania were roped in.
• Further, the complainant said that Amanatullah Khan, Prakash Jarwal, Praveen Kumar, Nitin Tyagi, Ajay Dutt and Rituraj Govind were also at fault as they shared a common intention and abetted the commission of offences in the present case.

LEGAL PROVISIONS

Arvind Kejriwal with the 12 others who were accused, were booked under the following Sections in this case.

• Sections 186 of IPC: It mentions that voluntarily obstructing any public servant from discharging his of public functions can lead to 3 months of imprisonment, fine or both.
• Section 353 of IPC: It states that assaulting or using criminal force on any public servant, preventing him from carrying out his duties in a lawful manner, would be punished with imprisonment for two years, fine or both.
• Section 332 of IPC: It states that whoever voluntarily causes hurt to any public servant which deters him from performing his public duty would be sentenced to three years of punishment or fine or both.
• Section 323 of IPC: It defines the punishment for voluntarily causing hurt. It states that whoever causes hurt voluntarily to another person shall be punished with one year of imprisonment, fine or both.
• Section 342 IPC: It gives the punishment for wrongful confinement. It states that whoever confines another person in a wrongful manner would be imprisoned for one year or give fine or both.
• Section 504 IPC: It mentions about intentionally insulting another person in order to provoke him and with the intention to damage the public peace must face the give punishment.
• Section 120-B IPC: This Section talks about the punishment for criminal conspiracy.
• Section 149 IPC: This Section says that every member present in the unlawful assembly is to be held guilty for the offence committed in the furtherance of common object.

OBSERVATIONS MADE BY THE COURT

• The Court held that, it cannot be inferred that the presence of any unlawful assembly was in the furtherance of common unlawful object or any type of criminal conspiracy which was being planned by the accused people.
• The Court further held that this meeting cannot be called as an unlawful assembly as it was being attended by the complainant regarding the discharge of his public duties and consisted of CM, Deputy CM, MLA’s and the Chief Secretary himself.
• The Court observed that it cannot be stated that it was a pre-planned conspiracy just because the CM held the meeting at 12 midnight.
• The Court concluded that Kejriwal’s conduct was inconsistent regarding the charge of conspiracy and that clearly demonstrates that there was no prior meeting of minds, any prior concert, conspiracy or pre- mediation amongst the people who are accused of committing any offence against the complainant.
• Thus Kejriwal, Sisodia and 9 others were not convicted by the Delhi Court regarding the assault.

DO YOU THINK THE CHIEF SECRETARY WAS NOT ASSAULTED?