New Delhi, June 6 (IANS) A Delhi court on Saturday directed the All India Mahila Congress President Alka Lamba to be released on probation of good conduct for a period of one year in a case arising out of a protest demanding implementation of women’s reservation ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The Rouse Avenue Court directed that Lamba be released on a good conduct bond for one year and ordered her to furnish a bail bond of Rs 1 lakh.
Reacting to the court order, the Congress leader said that she would challenge her conviction before the Sessions Court.
“I have indeed been convicted by the Rouse Avenue Court, and I will certainly challenge that conviction through my lawyers. This fight for women’s rights will continue,” Lamba told IANS.
Last month, the court had convicted Lamba in the criminal case stemming from the July 29, 2024, demonstration led by the Mahila Congress at Jantar Mantar, where protesters had demanded the implementation of women’s quota and attempted to march towards the Parliament.
The case arose from an FIR registered by the Delhi Police alleging that prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) were in force in the Parliament Street sub-division at the time of the protest, though Jantar Mantar itself was an exempted area for demonstrations.
According to the prosecution, Lamba, who was the main speaker at the protest, along with other demonstrators, moved beyond the permitted protest site towards Tolstoy Road, raised slogans and attempted to march towards Parliament despite repeated warnings by police officials.
Earlier, while framing charges against Lamba, the trial court had said that the video footage played in open court showed the accused allegedly pushing police personnel, instigating protesters to jump barricades and leading demonstrators beyond the permissible protest zone.
The court had held that a prima facie case was made out against Lamba under Sections 132 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty), 221 (obstructing public servant), 223(a) (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 285 (danger or obstruction in public way) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Rejecting Lamba’s plea for discharge in December last year, the trial court had said that at the stage of framing of charge, the prosecution material was required to be accepted as true and the defence raised by the accused would have to be tested during trial.
Subsequently, Lamba’s revision plea challenging the framing of charges was also dismissed by the Rouse Avenue Court in February this year.
Additional Sessions Judge Dig Vinay Singh had then held that there was no “patent illegality, perversity or jurisdictional error” in the Magistrate’s order directing that charges be framed against her.
The Sessions Court had relied on video footage and statements of police witnesses to hold that the protest had allegedly gone beyond the exempted area and that protesters breached barricades and obstructed public movement near Sansad Marg.
The court had also rejected the argument that the absence of any medico-legal certificate or injury report created an “evidentiary vacuum”, saying that actual physical injury was not mandatory for offences relating to the use of criminal force.
–IANS
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