In an embarrassing development on Monday (22nd July), the Delhi High Court came down heavily on Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Somnath Bharti after he filed an error-ridden petition against BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj.
Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora of the Delhi High Court noted, “Your petition is full of typographical errors. I can’t issue notice because I don’t understand anything.”
He pointed out that the petition filed by Somnath Bharti had made references to Respondent No.4 although there was none in the memo of parties.
"Your petition is full of typographical errors. I can't issue notice because I don't understand anything."
— Bar and Bench (@barandbench) July 22, 2024
Delhi High Court asks AAP's Somnath Bharti to correct the mistakes made in his petition challenging the election of BJP leader Bansuri Swaraj as MP from the New Delhi… pic.twitter.com/ziC0nxqpZG
Before adjourning the matter to 13th August this year, the Delhi High Court ruled, “It is full of mistakes. There are too many mistakes. You will have to correct the petition first. I can’t issue notice because I can’t understand… I will adjourn and you file a corrected petition.”
For the unversed, Somnath Bharti had filed a petition against Bansuri Swaraj after losing by a margin of 78,370 votes from the New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency. He had alleged election malpractice and levelled corruption charges against the BJP MP.
Bharti claimed that a politician named Raaj Anand Kumar, who was fielded by the BSP from the New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, was working on the behest of the BJP and against AAP.
Me after reading Meer Faisal’s legal notice pic.twitter.com/rgPF92oHSa
— Nupur J Sharma (@UnSubtleDesi) July 2, 2024
The embarrassing development in the Delhi High Court today is reminiscent of the 2013 film ‘Jolly LLB’ wherein Judge Sundar Lal Tripathy reprimanded advocate Jagdish Tyagi for filing a typo-ridden Public Interest Litigation (PIL).
“You have written appeal as ‘apple’ in this PIL. Not only that, you have written ‘prosecution’ as prostitution. There are at least 5 mistakes in each line. (You did not do due diligence) and just filed a PIL,” the iconic dialogue of the movie reads.
In a similar fashion, Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora of the Delhi High Court rapped petitioner Somnath Bharati, who coincidentally happens to be a lawyer by occupation, for filing a petition riddled with typos.
