Delhi court charges bjp mp for assaulting cop | Latest News Delhi

A Delhi court on Saturday formed charges against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of Parliament YogenderChandolia for assaulting a public servant on duty in 2020.

The incident took place on October 7, 2020 when Chandolia, now a BJP Lok Sabha MP from northwest Delhi, allegedly got into a scuffle with a traffic police officer on crane duty, over removal of wrongly parked vehicles in Prasad Nagar area.

The additional chief judicial magistrate Neha Mittal of Rouse Avenue Court framed charges under IPC sections 186 (obstructing public servant in the discharge of his public functions), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 353 (assault to deter a public servant from discharge of their duty) against Chandolia after noting that his actions amounted to using criminal force on the traffic officer, also the complainant in the case.

“It is alleged that when the complainant tried to board the crane, the accused tried to pull him down. Statement of witnesses have been recorded by police…the said allegation amounts to using criminal force,” judicial magistrate Mittal said.

Further, the court noted that the complainant is a public servant and the said act constituted the offence of assault to obstruct a public servant from performing official duties.

Chandolia’s lawyer had argued presence of “material loopholes” in the police case as there was no CCTV footage of the incident nor any independent witnesses who could corroborate the allegations. It was further argued that there was a verbal confrontation between the complainant and the accused, which does not constitute a physical assault.

The traffic officer alleged that Chandolia incited people against him and Chandolia’s associates snatched his phone after the officer tried to record a video of the incident. Chandolia was granted bail in the case on January 8 this year after he was summoned in the case.