Lawyer Abha Singh justifies Tomar's arrest

Senior advocate Abha Singh on Tuesday said Delhi Law Minister Jitendra Tomar has been rightly charged in connection with the fake degree certificate row under Sections 467, 468, 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under Section 120 B of criminal conspiracy.

She further said that if the Delhi Police had not arrested Tomar, action would have been taken against the Delhi Police for not doing their duty.

"Jitendra Tomar, Law Minister of the Aam Admi Party of the Delhi Government, has been arrested for presenting fake and bogus law degree certificate in his election affidavit. He has rightly been charged

under 467, 468 , and 420, also120 B criminal conspiracy because Bhagalpur University had given an affidavit in the High Court that he was not a student there. Even his B.Sc degree from Awadh University is fake because the University said he was never a student there. So, when this is such a serious offence, it entails imprisonment of upto seven to ten years," Singh told ANI here.

"There is a judgement, the judgement of the Supreme Court Lalita Kumari, which clearly says that the police must register an FIR if a cognizable offence has taken place. And here there are offences of such a similar nature that imprisonment is prescribed for minimum 10 years. So if Delhi police had not arrested Jitendra Tomar, action would have been taken on Delhi Police for not fulfilling its lawful obligation," he added.

Criticising the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Singh said that the latter had come on a wavelength of honesty and integrity in the recent Delhi Assembly elections but was however embroiled in such corruption.

"What is surprising is that AAP which came on a wavelength of honesty and integrity is embroiled in such corruption. Even when High Court had issued a notice to this minister, why did Arvind Kejriwal not dismiss him from the party? Instead he went ahead and said that he was ready to attest the fake certificates. Now Delhi Police must investigate the whole scam and see whether Kejriwal knew that his minister had fake certificates and whether he also had a role to play in the criminal conspiracy under Section 120 B of the IPC," said Singh.

Tomar was arrested by the Delhi Police this morning and taken to the Hauz Khas police station in connection with the fake certificate row.

Tomar has been facing charges that the education certificates submitted by him while filing nomination for Delhi Assembly polls earlier this year were fake.

Bihar's Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University, from where Tomar claimed to have obtained his law degree, had earlier stated that the record of his provisional certificate did not exist in the university's record.

The BJP and Congress have been demanding Tomar's resignation since April when allegations were first made that he had faked his Bihar law degree.