The Delhi High court on Thursday dismissed the plea of Aam Aadmi Party’s leader Amanatullah Khan challenging the order of Delhi Police declaring him as a “bad character”. Amanatullah Khan is a member of the Delhi Legislative Assembly and represents the Okhla assembly.
Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain, while dismissing the plea, granted liberty to Amanatullah Khan to move representation before the concerned Authority on Thursday. The Court had kept the order reserved in October 2022.
Earlier, Advocate M Sufian Siddiqui appeared for Amanatullah and argued that the order of the Delhi Police is mechanical, without material and application of mind. There is a malafide intention on the part of the Delhi Police to malign the image of the petitioner MLA.
He also argued that the history sheet which is supposed to be confidential was leaked to the spokesman of a rival party and was on social media. This news was taken up by all the media houses and this affected the image of the petitioner.
Advocate Siddiqui had argued that there was no material to form an opinion about the petitioner for opening the history sheet. There is not a single complaint by any neighbour. He also argued that the Delhi Police has not even initiated an inquiry into the leakage of the history sheet. This demonstrates that the action of the police was malafide and maligning the image of the petitioner.
It was argued that there were 18 cases against the petitioner, out of which in 14 cases there was an acquittal, discharge or compounding. In two cases out of four, the investigation is pending. One case has been challenged before the Allahabad High Court. There is no material to form an opinion against the petitioner.
On the other hand, ASG Sanjay Jain had submitted before the court that there was no malafide on the part of the police, there was an application of mind and approval was given on the basis of material forwarded by the forwarding authority. There was sufficient material to form an opinion on the matter.
Earlier, it was also submitted that declaring a person a bad character is confidential. This information about the process can not be shared with the person against whom the process started.
He had also submitted that the decision is taken by a competent authority on the basis of material available with DCP, in this case, including a list of cases.
It is right that the petitioner is not a convict but there are cases against him.
On this basis, his name has been entered into the register and a history sheet has been opened. This decision was taken with the proper application of mind.
It was submitted that the information can’t be shared with the petitioner but it can be shared with the court for judicial scrutiny.
Earlier the High Court had issued notice to Delhi Police on a plea moved by AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan. He has challenged the order issued by Delhi Police declaring him a bad character of the area.
The petitioner had stated that the dossier was leaked to the media in contravention of rules and regulations, which mandates it to be kept confidential. The petitioner said it is a classic case of brazen abuse of the process of law by the Delhi police.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
