The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said that Legislative Assembly committees cannot harass Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash by sending notices, for filing a complaint alleging assault by two MLAs of the Aam Aadmi Party, PTI reported. The court was hearing the bail plea of AAP MLA Prakash Jarwal, who is in judicial custody for the alleged assault on February 19.
The chief secretary’s counsel told the court that the Privileges Committee of the Delhi Assembly had issued a notice asking him to appear before it. “You cannot harass a complainant like this,” the court said. “By hook or crook, the chief secretary is being harassed. Is it not a ground to reject the bail plea?”
Judge Mukta Gupta said it is a very “unfortunate situation when the state and the officers feel unsafe and are being threatened by each other”. The court reserved its order on Jarwal’s application and also asked the police to file a status report by March 12 on the bail plea of Amanatullah Khan, the other AAP legislator accused of assaulting Prakash.
A court in Tis Hazari area of Delhi had rejected the bail applications filed by Jarwal and Khan on February 23. The two MLAs are in 14 days’ judicial custody, which ends on Thursday.
On Tuesday, the AAP had claimed that Prakash was attempting to divert attention from a “Rs 100-crore fraud” in the Delhi Nagrik Sehkari Bank by filing a police complaint about the alleged assault. AAP also accused Prakash of distorting facts in his petition challenging the breach of a privilege notice the Assembly committee had served on him.
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