A Delhi court on Thursday suspended two years jail term awarded to Aam Admi Party (AAP) MLA Somnath Bharti for assaulting AIIMS security staff in a case registered in 2016. Special Judge Vikas Dhull passed the directions on an appeal filed against an order of a magisterial court that had handed over the punishment to Bharti on January 23.
The special court said that the appeal was going to take substantial time. The court directed Bharti to pay a personal bond of Rs 20,000 and one surety of like amount.
The magisterial court had also imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on Bharti. The court, however, had granted him bail to enable him to file an appeal against his conviction and jail term before superior court.
Advocate Mohd Irshad filed the appeal on behalf of Bharti. According to the prosecution, on September 9, 2016 Bharti, along with his around 300 associates broke the fence of a boundary wall of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, with JCB for creating an access to the institute.
The court had convicted Bharti for various offences punishable under IPC, including section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (assault or use of criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 147 (rioting). It also held Bharti guilty under section 3 (mischief causing damage to public property) of the Prevention of Damage to the Public Property Act.
The offences carried a maximum punishment of five year. The court, however, had acquitted Bharti's associates and co-accused – Jagat Saini, Dileep Jha, Sandeep Sonu and Rakesh Pandey – citing lack of evidence against them.
The FIR was registered on the basis of a complaint field by RS Rawat, Chief Security Officer, AIIMS. Bharti had told the court that police officials/witnesses deposed falsely against him in order to falsely implicate him in the present case.
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