Congress seeks prosecution of AAP MLA Rituraj Govind for 'misusing' state emblem

New Delhi: A Congress leader has moved a plea in the Delhi High Court seeking a direction to the Centre to grant sanction to police to prosecute the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its MLA Rituraj Govind for allegedly issuing identity cards with the state emblem printed on them to party volunteers. The application by Delhi Congress leader Pratyush Kanth was moved before Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva who asked the politician’s lawyer to seek instructions on whether the plea can be disposed of and a representation be filed before the competent authority for initiation of prosecution under the State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act. [caption id=“attachment_2905508” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Rituraj Govind. Twitter\@AAPRituraj[/caption] The court’s query came in view of the submission made by Delhi government that such identity cards were not being circulated. The court said in view of the submission, the allegation made in the main petition by the Congress leader does not exist and suggested that the matter be disposed of. However, advocate Biji Rajesh, appearing for Kanth, said she needs to take instructions and the court, thereafter, listed the matter for hearing on 1 August. During the hearing, Delhi government counsel Gautam Narayan said there needs to be a police complaint for initiation of prosecution. Kanth in his application has sought directions to police to treat his petition as a complaint for initiating prosecution. Delhi Police in an affidavit told the court that it had carried out an enquiry in Kirari constituency of north west Delhi, represented by Rituraj, and found no identity cards in contravention of the Act. It also said that it has instructed all its staff to be on lookout against alleged issuance of any such identity cards by the AAP MLA. The court on April 8 last year had restrained the MLA from issuing further identity cards carrying the state emblem to party volunteers. As per Kanth’s petition, the ID cards have the designation of the worker written as ‘In-charge Anti Corruption’ along with his name and address". He also alleged that residents of the area were under the impression that the MLA has distributed “government jobs” as Govind has allegedly termed the issuance of ID cards as “Kirari Sarkari Naukari Mela”.