File photo: Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti in a verbal altercation with a Delhi Police official during a midnight raid in South Delhi
A Delhi court will today pronounce whether a second police complaint should be filed in the controversial midnight raid led by Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti. The court is hearing a plea by an African woman seeking registration of fresh FIR against unknown persons for allegedly molesting her during the raid.
Metropolitan Magistrate Chetna Singh had reserved the order on Tuesday after Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) B S Jaiswal said there was no need for a separate FIR on the woman's complaint as it pertains to the same incident in which a case has already been registered.
The DCP's report was vehemently opposed by the Ugandan woman's counsel Rakesh Sherawat saying the "incident is common but the complainant is also a victim in the incident and she was also molested by few people out of the group of 10 and hence the offence on her body was committed separately".
An FIR has already been filed against the controversial midnight raid by Mr Bharti based on the complaint of another Ugandan woman, though he has not been named in it. The two Ugandan women are among a group of seven foreign nationals who have deposed in court in connection with the case. Some of them have identified Mr Bharti as the leader of a mob that allegedly beat and molested them.
On January 15, surrounded by his supporters, Mr Bharti ordered police officers to raid homes rented by Ugandan women in his constituency, claiming that they were being used to traffic drugs and sex. Mr Bharti's supporters allegedly forced some of the women to give urine samples for drug tests. They later tested negative for drugs in a Delhi hospital.
The Ugandan women have also alleged that they were molested and beaten up by the mob which also hurled racist slurs at them. On camera, he is seen arguing with police officers who said they could not raid a house in his constituency or arrest the women because they did not have warrants.
Mr Bharti's Aam Aadmi Party or AAP has defended him, claiming that in the unedited footage of his raid, he does not demonstrate racist behaviour, does not manhandle the women, and does not misuse his office as a minister.