india

Updated: Jul 04, 2019 14:24 IST

Aam Aadmi Party MLA Som Dutt has been sentenced to six months in prison for assaulting a man ‘without provocation’ by a Delhi court. He has also been fined Rs two lakh. Som Dutt represents Sadar Bazar constituency in old Delhi area.

This is the second sentencing of a sitting AAP MLA in a week. Earlier this week, the court awarded three months sentence to Manoj Kumar, AAP legislator from Kondli, for obstructing poll process.

Chief metropolitan magistrate Samar Vishal had convicted Som Dutt on June 29 and granted bail to allow him to challenge the conviction. The case dates back to January 2015, when the complainant Sanjeev Rana alleged assault by Som Dutt, an ex-MLA at the time.

Rana had told the police that Dutt along with 50-60 persons had arrived at his Gulabi Bagh flat in January 2015 and rang the doorbell repeatedly.

As per the case files, Dutt assaulted Rana with “a baseball bat on his leg” when he objected to the repeated ringing of the bell. It was further alleged that “the persons accompanying Som Dutt dragged the complainant on the road outside and thrashed him with fists and kicks” rendering him unconscious.

Dutt had told the court that he was “falsely implicated due to political reasons” and that Rana, “a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party wanted to cut his ticket for Assembly elections”.

Rana, however, denied association with any political party.

Sunil, the only eyewitness in the case corroborated Rana’s version and said he saw Som Dutt holding a base ball bat and beating Rana on his legs.

The court in its judgement observed that the AAP MLA’s legal team hadn’t produced any material explaining why Rana would falsely implicate Dutt.

It also found Rana’s statement to be generally reliable and consistent while saying that “it is unlikely that he (Rana) will spare the actual assailant in order to falsely implicate someone else”.

The court also noted that Rana’s medical reports corroborated assault on him and the non-recovery of the weapon of offence (baseball bat) was not a ground to acquit the accused.