Delhi Assembly ruckus: 2 detained name 10 AAP members for beating them

Two petitioners sent to jail for throwing pamphlets, raising slogans named 10AAP MLAs for beating up

Two persons who were sent to jail last month for 30 days for throwing pamphlets and raising slogans in the Delhi Assembly on Tuesday in the Delhi High Court named 10 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators for beating them up.

The two, Jagdeep Rana and Rajan Kumar Madan, said in an affidavit that AAP lawmakers Amanatullah Khan, Jarnail Singh, Somnath Bharti, Mohinder Goyal, Rajesh Gupta, Rituraj, Sanjeev Jha, Nitin Tyagi, Prakash, and Praveen Kumar had beatn them up for throwing pamphlets and sloganeering in the House.

"These MLAs attacked the petitioners in the corridor of Delhi Legislative Assembly. All the above-said legislators with common intention hit the petitioners with fist and leg blows. The petitioners suffered several injuries in the said attack and their lives could only be saved due to timely intervention by the marshals of the house as well as some media persons," stated the affidavit filed through advocate Pradeep Rana.

The High Court had earlier asked them to file an affidavit giving an elaborate account of the facts and also suggested to their lawyer to array as respondents the MLAs who had allegedly beaten up the two.

The court has been hearing their plea seeking their release from jail.

On June 28, the Delhi Assembly witnessed drama after the two men hurled pamphlets and raised slogans, demanding the resignation of Health Minister Satyendar Jain.

AAP legislator Saurabh Bharadwaj then moved a motion against the duo. Consequently, Speaker Ram Niwas Goel sentenced the two to one month of rigorous imprisonment for breach of privilege of the House.

Challenging the Speaker's June 28 decision, the duo alleged that the order was "illegal" as it was issued without affording them an opportunity of being heard.

The plea challenged the validity of the Delhi Assembly rule which permits punishing a person accused of breach of privilege of the House without hearing him.

The Delhi government has claimed that the incident of pamphlet throwing and sloganeering took place in full view of the House and therefore, there was no need to hear the two.

Rana, who claims to be the vice president of AAP's Delhi Unit, and Madan, who says he is part of the AAP units in Punjab and Chhattisgarh, have contended that no reason has been recorded for awarding them such a severe punishment.

The two had initially moved a habeas corpus against their imprisonment. A habeas corpus plea is a petition which is filed to ensure a person under arrest is brought before a court which will determine whether the detention is legal.

Seeking their release, the duo said they had no intention to breach the privilege of the legislative assembly or to commit contempt of the same. They had no intention to cause any damage to person or property inside the assembly on that day, they had claimed.

"The intention of the petitioners was only to draw the attention of the government and the party to the glaring issues, which were being exploited by the opposition in defaming the party," they contended.