Delhi court acquits Somnath Bharti, 17 others in midnight raids case

On the intervening night of January 15 and 16 in 2014, then law minister and AAP MLA from Malviya Nagar led a group of persons that allegedly harassed and assaulted women from African countries

A Delhi court on Friday acquitted former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Somnath Bharti and 17 others in connection with a midnight raid at South Delhi’s Khirki Extension in January 2014, allegedly targeting women from African countries.

A detailed order of the judgement is awaited. (@attorneybharti | Official X account)

The judgement was delivered by Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Neha Mittal of Rouse Avenue courts.

The court orally noted, “The statements of the victims are deemed to be inadmissible as they did not come to court. Any instance of unlawful assembly could not be proved. The prosecution has failed to prove its case”.

The court further said that the delay in registration of the case could also not be proved by the prosecution.

A detailed order of the judgement is awaited.

On the intervening night of January 15 and 16 in 2014, then law minister and AAP MLA from Malviya Nagar led a group of persons that allegedly harassed and assaulted women from African countries who were living there on rent, wherein the accused persons claimed that the women were involved in illegal activities. During the raid, prosecution claimed that multiple women sustained injuries.

Bharti, who also got involved in scuffle with police personnel during the raid, claimed that he had received several complaints of an alleged drugs and prostitution ring being run from the place and hence carried out the raid.

In 2018, the court framed molestation charges against Bharti and others, noting that there was a sufficient prima facie case against all the accused persons to proceed in the trial.

The court had framed charges against Bharti and others under sections 147/149 (rioting), 354 (molestation), 354C (voyeurism), 342 (wrongful confinement), 506 (criminal intimidation), 143 (unlawful assembly), 509 (outraging a woman’s modesty), 153A (promoting enmity between two groups or religions), 323 (assault), 452 (house trespass), 427 (criminal trespass) and 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

In its chargesheet, the Delhi Police cited 41 prosecution witnesses, including nine African women, to prove its case.

A first information report (FIR) was lodged by police in the case on court’s direction after a Ugandan woman, one of the victims, filed a plea on January 18, 2014. She had sought filing of a criminal case against unknown persons in the incident.