The Delhi police, whom the Deputy CM of Delhi and AAP leader, Manish Sisodia, held accountable for setting DTC buses on fire during riots that took place in Delhi by Muslim mobs in December 2019, gives a clean chit to him. While doing so the Delhi police opined that Sisodia only tweeted his opinion on a video clip that was running on news channels.
In its Action Taken Report (ATR), the Delhi police stated that no cognizable offence is made out against Sisodia. “No cognizable offence is made out against Sisodia from the contents of his tweet. Sisodia only tweeted his opinion on a video clip that was running on news channels”, the ATR said.
“From the perusal of complaint, it is revealed that the tweets are mere allegation against police and no offence under sections 153, 153-A, 504 and 505 IPC is made out,” the ATR says.
However, the Delhi court Monday rejected the clean chit given to the AAP leader in the matter and directed the commissioner to file a fresh report by March 17.
During the hearing, the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vishal Pahuja recorded serious objections by the complaint on the actions taken report (ATR) filed by Tilak Marg Police Station, in which they had said they have not even received the complaint.
The Delhi court had earlier called Delhi police to submit an ATR after a complaint was filed by Delhi lawyer Alakh Alok Srivastav seeking registration of FIR against Manish Sisodia for maliciously spreading fake news blaming Delhi Police of setting fire to buses during anti-CAA Jamia riots.
The charges against Manish Sisodia were under sections 153(A), 153, 504 and 505 of the Indian Penal Code.
The complaint said that on 15th December, Delhi witnessed unprecedented violence and arson in the aftermath of the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act. The complaint said that certain people provoked students and the general population to create a ruckus in the name of protesting against the Act.
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The complaint said that despite lapse of more than one and a half months, the police have not yet registered an FIR against the accused and sought directions for the same against Manish Sisodia under several relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Information Technology Act.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and other Aam Aadmi Party leaders and supporters had in December last year tweeted, casting aspersions that Delhi Police at the behest of BJP and not the unruly mob protesting against the CAB (now CAA) set the buses on fire in the national capital.
Taking to Twitter, Sisodia said that fearing defeat in upcoming Delhi state assembly elections, BJP is setting Delhi on fire. He said that AAP is against the violence of any form and this is dirty politics by the BJP. In the video, he shared he is alleging that under the watchful eyes of the Delhi Police the buses were set on fire.
He had even shared images with red circles to prove a point that the firefighter was actually setting the bus ablaze.
However, if one looked closely at the video shared at that time, the police were actually helping the firefighters trying to control the fire.
Sisodia’s allegations had come minutes after it was reported that AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan was part of the mob that turned violent. While Khan had vehemently denied leading the mob, sufficient proves had emerged which showed that the violent anti-CAA riots perpetrated in the national capital last year were spearheaded by several AAP and Congress leaders.