New Delhi:A Delhi court has discharged Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and AAP MLAs Somnath Bharti and Rakhi Birla in a case of allegedly violating prohibitory orders in the national capital and obstructing public servants during an agitation in 2014.
Additional Sessions Judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar passed the order on a plea by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators challenging a magisterial court's July 5 order by which charges were framed against them, paving the way for their trial.
The sessions court said there was no sufficient evidence to put them on trial.
In their applications filed by advocate Mohd Irshad, the AAP politicians had challenged the magisterial court's order saying that it had erred in framing charges against them.
The trial court had on July 5 framed charges against the accused persons, saying there was sufficient evidence to conclude that a prima facie case and "grave suspicion" was made out against them.
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It had framed the charges after the accused pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.
The charges were framed under section 143 and 145 (both related to unlawful assembly) and 188 (disobedience to an order by a public servant) of IPC, and under section 147 (rioting), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) of IPC, read with section 149 (unlawful assembly) of IPC.
The trial court, however, had discharged AAP leader Sanjay Singh and its former member Ashutosh, saying "there is no evidence on record against them regarding their participation in the aforementioned offences".