Midnight raid: Seeking sanction against Bharti, police to court

Delhi police is seeking prosecution sanction from competent authority on a priority basis against AAP leader Somnath Bharti in the case of alleged molestation of African women during his midnight-raid last year, police said on Friday in a report filed in a Delhi court.

Delhi police is seeking prosecution sanction from competent authority on a priority basis against AAP leader Somnath Bharti in the case of alleged molestation of African women during his midnight-raid last year, police said on Friday in a report filed in a Delhi court.

In its report filed before metropolitan magistrate (MM) Ankita Lal, Delhi police said it has written to the competent authority as per the direction of the court to grant prosecution sanction against Bharti expeditiously.

Special public prosecutor Atul Srivastava filed the report of Deputy Commissioner of Police and the reply of investigating officer's on Bharti's plea for further probe in the case in a sealed cover after which the court fixed the matter for further hearing on July 14.

On January 16, the court had issued notice to DCP and gave a last chance to investigating officer Vijay Chandel to get prosecution sanction against AAP leader Bharti.

In its charge sheet filed on September 27 last year, Delhi police had said that "nine African women were victims of molestation and manhandling by a mob led by the then Law Minister Somnath Bharti".

In the charge sheet, Bharti and 17 others have been booked under various sections of the IPC, including 354 (outraging women's modesty), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 147 (rioting).

The police arrayed 41 people as prosecution witnesses in the case, including nine Ugandan women, who were allegedly beaten up and molested by the mob led by Bharti on the intervening night of January 15-16, 2014.

In its charge sheet, police had said forensic reports of the victim's urine samples were awaited but reports of video footage collected from CCTV cameras installed at AIIMS, where the victims were taken for medical check-up, and news channels have been received.

The FIR was lodged on January 19 on the court's direction The FIR was lodged on January 19 on the court's direction after a Ugandan woman had approached it seeking a direction to the police to file a criminal case against unnamed persons.

Later, another African woman approached the court seeking registration of a separate FIR alleging that she was also molested by the group.

The court had on January 29, last year asked police to file a status report while refusing to order lodging of a separate FIR on the plea.

However, it had asked police that the woman be made a co-complainant in the first FIR lodged on January 19 as she was also "the victim" of the same incident.