AAP MLA Somnath Bharti jailed for 2 yrs in AIIMS staff attack case

A Delhi Court on Tuesday upheld the conviction of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Somnath Bharti relating to the assault of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) security staff in 2016.

On January 23, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Pandey had sentenced Bharti to two years of imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh in the case. Five days later, on the appeal filed by Bharti, Special Judge Vikas Dhull had stayed the magistrate court's order.

In an order on Tuesday, the court upheld the order dated January 23 and sent him to jail for offences such as rioting, unlawful assembly under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with mischief causing damage to public property under Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act.

"Appellant be taken into custody and be sent to jail for serving the sentence as awarded by the Ld. Trial Court vide its sentence order dated 23.01.2021 for the offence under Section 147 IPC read with Section 149 IPC and under Section 3(1) of PDPP Act," the order stated.

Immediately after the passing of the judgement, Somnath Bharti has been taken into judicial custody.

In a tweet earlier on Tuesday, he called it a "false" case and stated: "It was March 23 when people in power duly aided by Indian politicians hanged Shahid-e-azam Bhagat Singh Ji, Rajguru Ji and Sukhdev Ji, and today again, I failed to get justice from sessions court and being sent to Jail for my struggle for rights of people in a false case. Inquilab zindabad!"

On September 9, 2016, Bharti, along with nearly 300 others, demolished the fence of a boundary wall at AIIMS in Delhi with a JCB operator.

The magistrate had earlier noted that key witnesses specifically stated that accused Bharti was leading the mob, which broke the fence at the boundary wall of the AIIMS with the JCB machine as well as manually.

The case was lodged on the basis of a complaint of Chief Security Officer, AIIMS.