The accused were booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code. (Representational)
A Delhi court has acquitted former BJP MLA OP Sharma and ex-Congress MLA Tarvinder Singh Marwah in a case of allegedly assaulting former CPI leader Ameeque Jamai outside Patiala House Courts premises in New Delhi in February 2016.
The alleged incident took place outside Patiala House Courts complex when the then JNU Students Union President Kanhaiya Kumar was to be produced in the court in a case of sedition.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Ravindra Kumar Pandey passed the judgement on Tuesday after finding that prosecution failed to prove that the accused were present along with the mob which allegedly beat up Ameeque Jamai.
It was also not proved that OP Sharma had caused any injury of any nature to Ameeque Jamai or that he had threatened to kill him, the court said.
It noted that the prosecution also failed to prove that OP Sharma was the part of the mob which allegedly wrongfully restrained Ameeque Jamai.
The court further noted that OP Sharma was known to Ameeque Jamai since 2013-2014 as admitted by him during his cross-examination, but he made the contradictory and vague statement and did not disclose his name in his initial complaint.
Ameeque Jamai, then a member of CPI, also made material improvement in all three statements recorded during the investigation and during the trial, the court noted.
Regarding Tarvinder Singh Marwah, the judge observed that during his examination in the court, Ameeque Jamai stated that he named him in the complaint on the basis that he heard the word Tarvinder Singh Marwah in the mob which was beating him, however, he failed to identify him in the court as the person who was leading the mob and who had beaten him.
According to the prosecution, on February 15, 2016, both the accused along with their associates wrongfully restrained Ameeque Jamai and assaulted him.
It was further alleged that OP Sharma criminally intimidated Ameeque Jamai and threatened to kill him.
The incident had taken place when several activists, along with CPI supporters, had come to the court following the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar.
Accused were booked under Sections 323 (causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), and 506(criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.