AIIMS assault case: HC suspends 2-year jail term of Somnath Bharti

New Delhi: In a relief for Aam Aadmi Party MLA Somnath Bharti, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday stayed his conviction in a case of assault on AIIMS security staff and suspended the two-year jail term.

Justice Suresh Kait also sought the response of the Delhi government on Bharti's plea challenging his conviction and the sentence awarded to him by a trial court.

The high court listed the matter for further hearing on May 20.

Bharti was taken into custody and sent to prison on Tuesday after the pronouncement of the verdict by the trial court here.

Bharti, in his plea filed before the high court on Wednesday, has sought setting aside of the trial court verdict and suspension of sentence during the pendency of the revision petition. He has also sought a stay on his conviction in the case.

According to the prosecution, on September 9, 2016, Bharti, along with nearly 300 others, brought down the fence of a boundary wall at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here with a JCB operator.

A magistrate had in January sentenced him to two years in prison. The order was challenged before the special judge which also upheld his punishment on Tuesday.

In the petition before the high court, Bharti claimed that the special judge has erroneously convicted and sentenced him and that it was a case of no evidence. He said the verdict of the trial court was based upon a totally false and fabricated story of the prosecution.

It added that the magisterial court as well as the sessions court failed to appreciate that he is a sitting and third time MLA having a good reputation in society and that he devotes all his time for the service of the society.

The petitioner is an officer of this court and this prosecution is politically motivated to falsely implicate him, it said.

The special judge had partly dismissed Bharti's appeal and convicted him for the offences under sections 147 (rioting) read with 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code and under section 3 (mischief causing damage to public property) of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

It, however, had set aside his conviction under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (assault or use of criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) read with section 149 of the

IPC.