SC rejects Delhi police plea relating to witness statement in ex-Chief Secretary assault case

By Garima Tyagi
New Delhi [India], July 1 : The Supreme Court on Thursday declined the plea of Delhi police filed against the Delhi High Court order directing it to provide copy of the statement of one of the witnesses VK Jain to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in relation to the case of alleged assault on then Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash in 2018.
A Bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice MR Shah dismissed the plea of Delhi police saying the High Court directing supply of statement of Jain,
former advisor to the Chief Minister who was present at the 2018 meeting pertaining to the case, to the accused persons "supports liberty and we support it".
"Politically this case may be a hot potato, but on merits High Court passed a correct order," said the Bench while dismissing the plea of Delhi police.
Delhi police had approached the apex court challenging Delhi High court's last year order whereby it allowed Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's plea to provide the statement of Jain and directed trial court to consider his statement at the time of passing the order.
The top court said that to have a robust and fair criminal justice system the prosecution must provide all statements of witnesses to the accused persons. Kejriwal, Sisodia and other AAP MLAs are accused and were chargesheeted by Delhi police on August 13, 2018 in the case.
The High Court's order had come with a stern message to the police that it was their duty "to do free and fair investigation by bringing to the notice of the court all the evidences collected during the investigation without picking and choosing the one which does not support them".
Before the High Court, Kejriwal in his plea had accused the prosecution of withholding the statement of witness Jain recorded on February 21, 2018, because it did not suit the prosecution case and helped in falsely implicating him, his Deputy Manish Sisodia and other AAP leaders including Prakash Jarwal and Amanatullah Khan.
Jain, in the 2018 statement, which was reproduced in the judgment, stated that on the night of February 19, there was a meeting that took place between the AAP leaders and Anshu Prakash on the issue of 'Door Step Delivery of Ration', 'Advertisement Funds Release' and slow processing of files.
During the meeting, Jain stated that he went to the washroom and upon returning saw former Chief Secretary Prakash leaving, adding that he could not say anything about what transpired while he was in the washroom.