Yet to file FIR against ex-CM in defacement case: Police tell court

The Delhi Police on Tuesday informed a city court that they are yet to lodge a first information report (FIR) against former chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal, former AAP MLA Gulab Chand and Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Dwarka councillor Nitika Sharma, for allegedly defacing public property in Dwarka, as they do not have access to the original complaint.

The court also strongly criticised the Delhi Police for its handling of the investigation.

The counsel for the Delhi Police, appearing before additional chief judicial magistrate Neha Mittal, said that the original complaint filed with the station house officer of Dwarka South Police Station was not available and a new copy of the complaint and the application filed before the court was required for an FIR to be lodged.

Prosecutor Lalit Pingolia further informed that they need to go through the contents of the complaint again and have moved an application seeking copies of the application and complaint.

Advocate Sowjhanya Shankaran, appearing for complainant Shiv Kumar Saxena, submitted, “They (Delhi Police) claim that the original complaint has been destroyed...how is that possible. I have already forwarded them the digital copy of the complaint”.

The court went on to direct the Delhi Police to apply for the certified copies of the documents and put up the matter for compliance on March 28.

The Rouse Avenue court on March 11 directed the Delhi Police to register an FIR against Kejriwal and the two others for allegedly defacing public property by putting up political hoardings in Dwarka in 2019.

The court had held that the three had committed a cognisable offence under Section 3 of the Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property (DPDP) Act, 2007, which deals with mischief causing damage to public property.

According to the complainant, one of the hoardings stated that the then AAP government in Delhi would soon start registration for darshan at Kartarpur Sahib, and featured the photographs of Kejriwal and then-Matiyala MLA Chand.Another hoarding allegedly bore the photo of BJP’s Sharma, alongside images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior BJP leaders. Saxena contended that these hoardings were illegally put up, defacing public property in the area.

On Tuesday, the court strongly criticised the Delhi Police for its handling of the investigation, noting that its action taken report (ATR) was conspicuously silent on whether the hoardings had been placed at the alleged time.

“The statement in the ATR that no hoardings were found on the date of inquiry appears to be an attempt by the investigating agency to play hoodwink with the court,” the order stated.

The prosecution argued that given the passage of time, gathering evidence would now be impossible, particularly because details of the printing press were unavailable. However, the court firmly rejected this claim.

“Though the said submission appears to be attractive on the face of it, but this court cannot presume the fact that ordering investigation would be a futile exercise without even giving a chance to the investigating agency, especially in this era of scientific and technological advancement,” the order read.

The court also reprimanded the police for repeatedly delaying the filing of ATRs, despite multiple directives.

“The investigating agency cannot shrug away its responsibility by saying that evidence cannot be collected due to lapse of time,” noted the court, adding that the authorities had been “blowing hot and cold” on the matter.