Mumbai Court acquits Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and others in the 2014 'Illegal' rally case

A Mumbai court on Friday acquitted Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, former CEO of Bank of Scotland Meera Sanyal, activist Medha Patkar and five Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) members in connection with conducting a rally in Mumbai during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Metropolitan Magistrate PK Deshpande acquitted all of them on the basis of lack of communication of refusal of permission, no promulgation of prohibitory orders, no proof of electronic evidence and delay in recording of statements. All of them have to execute a personal bond of Rs 15,000 in cash.

Arvind Kejriwal, Meera Sanyal, and AAP members Sundar Balkrishna Nayar, Anil Rathod, Shakeel Ahmed, Imtiyaz Ansari and Ram Sinha Bharadwaj were present in the court on Friday.

Kejriwal and other accused were booked for holding an "unscheduled" rally in Mankhurd without prior permissions from the Mumbai traffic police. The rally was held during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and relevant sections of the Mumbai Police Act had been levied upon them.

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Talking about the case, AAP sources said, “AAP MLAs were arrested in 22 cases that were totally unsubstantiated and frivolous, but could nonetheless be processed as Delhi Police reports to the central ministry of home affairs. These public representatives were ill-treated and their arrests made public in order to spoil their image. However, the vendetta wreaking tactics of the BJP met their nemesis in the judiciary, as case after case was found to be false and fake and the esteemed high court warned and repeatedly scolded Delhi Police in the harshest terms for filing bizarre allegations and false cases, inspired by vengeful politics.”

The rally in Mankhurd, in north-east Mumbai, was held as part of the poll campaign of AAP candidates Sanyal and Patkar. The Mumbai Police had claimed it was "unscheduled" and held without prior requisite permissions from the traffic police. In March 2014, a complaint was lodged against Kejriwal and the others at suburban Mankhurd police station.

On December 9, 2015, the magistrate court had granted permanent exemption to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal from appearing at the court. Satish Jain, a Mumbai Lok Sabha member of the AAP filed a surety in court. Delhi Chief Minister had also approached the Bombay High Court in 2015 for quashing of the FIR against him and to exempt him from appearing before the Kurla magistrate court.

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