File Photo: AAP Legislator and former Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti
AAP Legislator Somnath Bharti today moved the Supreme Court seeking protection from arrest in a domestic violence case in which the Delhi high court has rejected his anticipatory bail plea.
The controversial MLA has sought a direction that the Delhi Police be restrained from arresting him till his petition challenging the High Court order is decided, his counsel said.
"We have filed the application in the Supreme Court. Now that we have approached the Supreme Court, I hope that Delhi Police will hold their horses and not trouble the staff and relatives of Somnath Bharti till the outcome of the application in the apex court," Mr Bharti's lawyer Vijay Aggarwal told PTI.
Sources close to the MLA said his petition is likely to be mentioned shortly.
Mr Bharti, who is evading arrest, approached the top court notwithstanding the tweet by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal saying that the legislator facing an attempt to murder and domestic violence case lodged by his estranged wife, was becoming an "embarrassment" to the party and should surrender immediately.
After the High Court decision, the police had raided several places including the office and house of the MLA to nab him.
The High Court had yesterday dismissed his anticipatory bail plea saying the allegations against him were backed by "documentary proof".
Terming the allegations against former Delhi Law Minister Bharti by his wife, Lipika Mitra, as "very serious", Justice Suresh Kait had said she has been tolerating his "cruelty" and "brutal assault".
Dismissing his plea for protection from arrest in the case, the high court had said that being an MLA, he should have shown more "generosity and responsibility towards his wife and children".
Ms Mitra had filed a complaint of domestic violence with Delhi Commission for Women on June 10 alleging that her husband had been abusing her since their marriage in 2010. She had also given a complaint to the police in this regard.
Delhi Police then registered an FIR against Mr Bharti under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 498A (cruelty towards wife), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapon), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 313 read with 511 (attempt to cause miscarriage without woman's consent), 420 (cheating) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC.