Somnath Bharti not named in Delhi police FIR for vigilante action

Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti has not been named in a FIR filed by the Delhi police, in response to a Saket court order directing them to do so. The FIR instead, names the ’local MLA and his supporters’ and does not mention the minister by name. The charges against them include rioting, molestation, wrongful restraint, criminal intimidation, outraging a woman’s modesty and promoting enmity between two religions, reported the Times of India . [caption id=“attachment_1350579” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Image from Facebook[/caption] Police say the women will be asked to identify Bharti and his supporters. Senior Lawyer Harish Salve is likely to take up the issue before the Delhi High Court. The court ordered the FIR based on the complaints of two Ugandan women, who alleged they had been manhandled by a mob led by Bharti, who led a midnight ‘raid’ against ‘drugs and prostitution’ in Khirki village of his constituency of Malviya Nagar. The court passed the order under section 156 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Code, which gives a magistrate the right to to order registration of a criminal offence. Bharti had apparently accused the African nationals of being prostitutes and criminals and had demanded their arrest, despite not having a warrant against them. He claimed to have been acting on a complaint received from local residents. The state law minister said that he was not aware of any case being filed against him, but said that he would put his stand forward in the event of an investigation. He also denied any wrong doing. “I don’t think any of our volunteers laid a hand on anyone. We are people who end up getting beaten, we don’t beat people”, he told reporters. “No one is talking about the impact of what was happening there on the youth. Why isn’t anyone talking about that? All these things take place with the support of the police,” he added. The incident, which has been widely condemned across the political spectrum, has however, been vigorously defended by AAP leaders and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Kejriwal has asked Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde to suspend the four police officials for allegedly not conducting a raid without a warrant as ordered by Bharti. He has also said that if no action is taken against the four officials by Monday, 10 am, all AAP ministers would sit on a ‘dharna’ outside the Home Ministry. And despite the Delhi police issuing prohibitory orders ahead of the dharna, Kejriwal has said that they will still go ahead with it. However he told people not to attend, saying that only MLAs would participate.