The Punjab and Haryana High Court has quashed a case pertaining to rioting and unlawful assembly against Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and other leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party, The Indian Express reported on Monday.

In January 2020, the Chandigarh Police booked Mann and seven AAP legislators under the Indian Penal Code sections pertaining to rioting, unlawful assembly, assault and voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from duty during a protest against a hike in electricity tariff.

The AAP leaders had planned to surround the residence of then-Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Bar and Bench reported. However, the police used water cannons to stop them, allegedly prompting them to throw stones.

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On Saturday, Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya observed that “ingredients of none of the offences alleged can be said to have been made out against any of the petitioners even prima facie”.

The judge further stated that there was no reason for the police to stop the protesters, as no prohibitory order had been issued.

“Nobody has been named from amongst the persons present who allegedly pelted stones on the police force,” Bar and Bench quoted the court as saying. “Besides, it is not the case that the petitioners asked them to do so.”

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It added that the “nature of alleged instigation by the petitioners” had also not been mentioned, nor specific words or gestures attributed to them.

The judge added that the “immediate trigger for the mob turning furious and behaving the way it did, appears to be shooting of water on them as per orders of the district magistrate”, Bar and Bench reported.

The nature of the injuries suffered by the police officers, which included abrasions, pain and swelling, could also be the result of the shoving and jostling by the mob in an effort to push its way ahead, the court said.

“The investigating agency has failed to come up with any material indicating any definite role to the petitioners in this regard as well,” Bar and Bench quoted the judge as saying.