Court suspends MLA Bharti’s conviction and sentencing in assault case

A Delhi court on Thursday suspended the conviction and sentence awarded to Malviya Nagar Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Somnath Bharti in a 2016 assault case at the AIIMS, pending the outcome of his appeal filed before a higher court. The new order has kept alive Bharti’s chances to continue as a legislator.

Under the Representation of the People’s Act, a legislator stands disqualified upon being sentenced to jail for a minimum of two years.

The membership of the house is lost with immediate effect.

The legislator then has to obtain a stay on the conviction to remain a member of the house -- a mere suspension of sentence or jail term will not suffice.

On Thursday, special judge Vikas Dhull said the appeal hearing, challenging the order of the magistrate court, was going to take time. The judge also directed Bharti to pay a personal bond of ₹20,000 and produce one surety of like amount.

“Since the appeal is going to take considerable time for disposal and having regard to grounds set out in the appeal, the application filed by the convict/appellant is allowed and conviction order dated January 22 and sentence order dated January 23 are suspended during the pendency of this appeal…..,’ the judge said in his order.

Bharti, through his counsels Mohammad Irshad and Pritish Sabharwal, had filed a plea challenging the conviction and sentence awarded to him for breaking the fencing of a boundary wall of AIIMS with an earthmover on September 9, 2016.

He was accompanied by 300 others, according to the complaint to by RS Rawat, chief security officer, AIIMS.

The court had convicted Bharti for various offences punishable under the Indian Penal Code, including sections 323, 353 and 147. The court, however, had acquitted Bharti’s associates and co-accused - Jagat Saini, Dileep Jha, Sandeep Sonu and Rakesh Pandey — citing lack of evidence.