A magistrate court in Sewree has rejected a plea of Bharatiya Janata Party’s former head of youth wing Mohit Bharatiya seeking that the court direct the police to probe the crowding of Nationalist Congress Party leader Nawab Malik’s supporters last month outside the court building in violation of COVID protocols.
Malik had appeared before the court in response to its summons in Bharatiya’s defamation complaint against him for remarks he made in connection with the Aryan drugs case. Malik had indicated that due to Bharatiya’s proximity to the BJP, his brother-in-law who was initially detained by the Narcotics Control Bureau in the raid it had conducted on the luxury cruise ship Cordelia on Oct 2, was later let off.
The court said in its order regarding the present application, that it had perused the documents Bharatiya produced before it including photos and the state government order under the Disaster Management Act. Considering the nature of the offences alleged against Malik, it said, there are no grounds as such to direct the police to investigate.
Bharatiya had said in his application seeking probe, that Malik’s supporters including some of his party’s leaders had made social media posts as well as tweets and Whatsapp forwards inviting the public to gather outside the court building on Nov 29 in the morning when Malik was to appear. He said the gathering at a time when new variants are emerging, put lives of judicial officers, lawyers, court staff and litigants at risk. Bharatiya said he will be challenging the order soon.
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Published on: Saturday, December 18, 2021, 08:12 PM IST