Obstruction case: Pre-arrest bail for AAP legislator

The prosecution had submitted that footage from the area was not available as electricity supply was cut at the time of the incident.

A Delhi court on Tuesday granted anticipatory bail to Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan in a case where he has been accused of attacking a police team in Jamia Nagar earlier this month and helping an offender flee.

Amanatullah Khan (Hindustan Times)

Special judge Jitendra Singh of Rouse Avenue court said the allegation against Khan that he obstructed police from carrying out their duty, is not supported by CCTV footage and that there is a mismatch of timings of the alleged attack and the arrest cited by the police officers. The prosecution had submitted that footage from the area was not available as electricity supply was cut at the time of the incident.

On February 10, the Delhi Police had lodged an FIR against Khan for manhandling a crime branch team when they had gone to arrest a proclaimed offender in an attempt to murder case in southeast Delhi’s Jamia Nagar. He was also accused of helping the offender flee the spot.

Further, the court in the latest order said that the conduct of the police team in detaining the accused Shahwez Khan inside a shop for about 20 minutes without any reason, casted a cloud of doubt as they had the opportunity to immediately arrest him.

“The police official cannot be allowed to justify their act or illegal detention as merely being a mistake of fact and, thereafter, disentitle the accused of his right under the name of performing official duty,” the court said.

The judge further questioned the mismatch in the timing of the incident as claimed by the prosecution.

It was noted that CCTV footage of the area after 2:29pm was not available due to an alleged power cut. “The prosecution has failed to explain why the time of the alleged offence was stated as 2:30pm to 3pm by the police team, even though the accused Shahwez Khan was detained at 2:07pm, as is apparently clear in the CCTV footage (before the power cut),” the order read.

The court added that no injury was caused to any police personnel and anticipatory bail to Khan could not be denied solely based on his past criminal antecedents, as sought by the prosecution.

After the FIR, the court on February 13 granted Khan interim protection from arrest after noting that the allegation of helping the offender escape did not seem to carry weight as the said accused was already granted anticipatory bail in July 2018 in the case in which the police wanted to arrest him.

However, Khan was asked to respond to the notice served by the police and join the probe on the same day.