HC relief for AAP leader in atrocities case

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Wednesday granted interim protection from coercive action to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Mumbai president Preeti Sharma Menon and another party worker in connection with a case filed against them under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Wednesday granted interim protection from coercive action to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Mumbai president Preeti Sharma Menon and another party worker in connection with a case filed against them under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The court also stayed the police investigation into the FIR registered against them.

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In the FIR registered on March 25, the complainant alleged that Menon and the other person had made casteist remarks against him and tried to assault him.

However, Menon informed the HC that she had on March 11 already lodged a police complaint anticipating such a complaint and therefore the FIR should be quashed.

The division bench of justice Sunil Shukre and justice Milind Sathaye was informed by senior advocate Mihir Desai and advocate Vijay Hiremath that the FIR was politically motivated and was filed almost six days after the alleged incident took place.

According to the complainant, Sanjay Kamble had joined AAP last year. On March 10, during a party meeting, Menon made remarks about the complainant saying his mentality was low and he was from a lower caste. Kamble alleged that she also used other casteist words. Thereafter chaos ensued and Manu Pillai, an office bearer of the party, charged towards him with an intention to assault him.

Based on Kamble’s complaint, Menon and Pillai were booked under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 500 (defamation), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (threat) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 3(1)(r) and (s) of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

On the other hand, the petition by Menon stated that Kamble had been guilty of anti-party activities, and his membership and that of some others was cancelled recently. He was influenced by some political rivals and got the FIR registered against her as an act of vendetta, the plea said.

The petition further stated that though the punishment for the sections applied in the complaint was more than seven years, the police had failed to issue her notice as per the procedure stipulated in the Code of Criminal Procedure.

In light of these submissions, the advocates sought quashing of the March 16 complaint and the FIR registered on March 25 against Menon and Pillai. They also sought protection from arrest or coercive action till the petition was heard and decided.

The petition filed by the AAP leader will be heard after four weeks.