Bibhav challenges Delhi court move to take cognisance of charges
The case involves allegations of Bibhav Kumar assaulting Swati Maliwal at Arvind Kejriwal’s residence on May 13
Bibhav Kumar, accused in the alleged assault on Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal and a close associate of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, on Monday filed a revision petition before a Delhi court challenging the legality of the trial court’s cognisance of the charge sheet, which was taken in July.
On July 16, Delhi Police filed a 500-page charge sheet in the case, cognisance of which was taken by the trial court on July 30. The charges against Kumar include sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), such as 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), 354 (assault or criminal force with intent to outrage a woman’s modesty), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 341 (wrongful restraint), and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence).
The case involves allegations of Kumar assaulting Maliwal at Kejriwal’s residence on May 13, with the case being registered at the Civil Lines police station.
The plea, filed on October 29 by Kumar’s lawyer, Manish Baidwan, seeks to overturn the trial court’s decision to take cognisance of the charge sheet. The petition argues that the trial court, in passing the order, “failed to apply its mind, much less judicial mind,” and proceeded in a “mechanical manner,” without properly considering the relevant law or following the procedure set out in the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS).
The plea further contends that the trial court made a “grave illegality” by adhering to the procedure under the old Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), specifically section 190(1)(b) of CrPC, when it should have followed section 210 of the BNSS, which had come into force on July 1.
The petition states: “The trial court should have followed the procedure at the time of taking cognisance in the present case, which is mentioned in section 210 of BNSS as the charge sheet in the present matter was filed in the learned trial court on July 16.”
Section 210 of the BNSS replaces section 190(1)(b) of the CrPC.
Moreover, the petition points out that the trial court, after taking cognisance, has continued to follow the procedure under the old CrPC. This is evidenced by the fact that copies of the charge sheet and other documents have been supplied to the accused in a manner consistent with the old procedural norms, states the plea.
It adds that this makes the cognisance order passed by the trial court on July 30 “bad in law”.
The petition is pending and scheduled to be heard by the court on November 16.
The cognisance in this case was taken by judicial magistrate Gaurav Goyal of the Tis Hazari court. Kumar was arrested by the Delhi Police on May 18 and was granted bail by the Supreme Court on September 2.
The charge sheet, which includes the testimonies of over 100 witnesses, mentions a possible “larger conspiracy” behind the assault on Maliwal. It also notes that both Kumar and Kejriwal were present at the former chief minister’s residence immediately after the alleged incident.