Delhi court acquits AAP MLA, four others of charges under SC/ST Act

New Delhi [India], June 2 (ANI): Delhi's Rouse Avenue court has acquitted AAP MLA Anil Jha and 4 others of charges of causing hurt to a person belonging to the Scheduled Caste community and insulting him by using caste based remarks in 2016 during a school function in Aman Vihar area.
Special judge Jitendra Singh acquitted Anil Jha, Gopal Singh, Susanskrit Kumar, Anil Singh, Vijay Prakash Tripathi alias Vijay Tiwari of Allegations under sections related to causing hurt and SC-ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in view of contraindications, omissions and lacunae.
Citing inconsistencies in the testimonies of material witnesses, the court said, "Taking into account, inter-se and intra-se inconsistencies in the testimonies of material witnesses, this Court has no hesitation to hold that the deposition of witnesses examined by the prosecution does not lend credence to case of the prosecution."
The court acquitted all the accused persons, giving them the benefit of the doubt. The court noted that a relevant video clip was not placed before the court.
The court said that the contradictions, omissions and lacunas clearly indicate that the prosecution has been unable to prove the alleged offence against the accused persons beyond a reasonable doubt.
"Accordingly, the accused persons are acquitted of the charge(s) levelled against them," Special Judge said in the judgement passed on May 31.
The court observed, " Upon a careful perusal of the material on record, it appears that the complainant has attempted to attribute a criminal colour to what was, in essence, a verbal altercation, if any, between him
and the accused, stemming from their respective political affiliations and activities.
"It is not unusual in such circumstances for the incident to be exaggerated, with the apparent intention of falsely implicating the accused in a more serious offences, thereby attempting to invoke stringent provisions such as SC/ST Act," the Special Judge Singh held.
The court pulled up the investigation officer (IO) for not securing the mobile of Complainant and other witness.
"Furthermore, it is quite astonishing to note that an IO of the rank of ACP has not even bothered to secure the electronic device (mobile phone) of the complainant or that of Prosecution witness from the content of which the alleged CD was prepared. The IO has even failed to verify the authenticity of the said video clip from CFSL," the court said.
Special judge further said, "Apparently, IO has shown utter negligence in collection of the electronic evidence. It is further pertinent to mention herein that the IO in his cross examination has categorically deposed that Accused (Anil Jha) was nowhere to be seen in the alleged video clip.
The court cautioned and said "IO is expected to keep in mind that false accusations have far reaching consequences as they may result in the prosecution and conviction of innocent persons. The falsely accused person may suffer considerable societal stigma, damage to reputation and psychological harm, even when a determination ultimately occurs that the accuser accidentally or deliberately made a false accusation."
An FIR was registered at Aman Vihar Police on the complaint of one Sanjay Kumar on February 28, 2016.
The Court took cognisance of the offence under section 323,.356/34 IPC and Section 3 (1) (r) and (s) of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 ( SC/ST Act) on May 18, 2016. (ANI)