After a long movement of female wrestlers accusing former President of Indian Wrestling Federation and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Singh of sexual harassment, a complaint was registered in this regard, on which on May 21, the court framed charges against the BJP leader under relevant sections. Given.
Delhi remained in the headlines in the year 2024 due to the arrest of former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the Excise Policy 2021-22 case, the dramatic developments that came to light in the investigation of related cases and the hearing of the case from the lower courts to the High Court. Kejriwal, the first sitting Chief Minister to be arrested in the country, has been made an accused in the case and was detained by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21 and produced in court the next day. He was sent to ED custody first till March 28 and then till April 1.
However, special judge Justice Bindu had granted him bail on June 20, saying the ED had failed to provide direct evidence against him regarding the proceeds of crime in the alleged scam. However, the Delhi High Court had stayed the order on June 21 on the request of the ED. On June 26, Kejriwal was again arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a corruption case related to this alleged scam.
On June 29, a court had sent him to judicial custody after being interrogated by the CBI. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor finally got relief from the Supreme Court on July 12 in the ED case and on September 13 in the CBI case, paving the way for his release from jail.
Apart from this, in the same liquor policy case, these agencies had arrested Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) leader K Kavita on March 15 and April 11 and the court proceedings related to these were also in the news. Eventually the apex court intervened and granted him bail in both the cases on August 27.
The agencies pointed to the role of the “right lobby” in the alleged scam. The CBI had filed the chargesheet against Kejriwal in July, while earlier the chargesheet was filed against former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Telangana Legislative Council member Kavita.
This year, the case of photographer Ankit Saxena ended when the culprits were sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment on March 7. Ankit Saxena was murdered in 2018 by three family members of his girlfriend because he belonged to another religion. The trio included his girlfriend’s parents Akbar Ali and Shahnaz Begum and maternal uncle Mohammad Salim.
On May 1 this year, a court took cognizance of the charge sheets filed in the cases against Prabir Purkayastha, founder of online news portal ‘Newsclick’. Former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Singh was accused of sexual harassment by female wrestlers and after a complaint in this regard, the court on May 21 framed related charges against him. Apart from Bhushan, the then assistant secretary of WFI and co-accused Vinod Tomar were also accused. He declared himself innocent.
Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar was sentenced to five months simple imprisonment by a court on July 1 in a defamation case filed by Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena. The case was filed by Saxena when he headed an NGO in Gujarat 23 years ago. However, the judge suspended the sentence and his appeal is pending in court.
An unusual situation arose when a political leader lodged in a Delhi jail contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and won. Engineer Rashid, accused in the alleged terrorist funding case in Jammu and Kashmir, has won the Jammu and Kashmir Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 general elections. He was later granted interim bail on September 11 to campaign for the assembly elections. He was given respite till 2 October, which was later extended and he surrendered on 28 October. The court refused to pass orders on his regular bail plea.
Former JNU student Umar Khalid, student activist Sharjeel Imam and former AAP councilor Tahir Hussain, accused in separate cases of riots in North-East Delhi, did not get any relief from the court. However, Khalid was granted interim bail for seven days to attend a family wedding in December. In another case related to the riots, the court framed charges of attempt to murder and unlawful assembly against former Congress councilor Ishrat Jahan, ‘United Against Hate’ founder Khalid Saifi and 11 others.
The list of cases involving political leaders also includes the “job in exchange for land” case, involving former Bihar Chief Minister and former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, his wife and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, their sons Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav. and his daughters Misa Bharti and Hema Yadav. All of them have got bail from the special court. Lalu and his sons got bail on October 7.
Senior AAP leader and former minister Satyendar Jain, facing money laundering charges, got bail on October 18 after spending 18 months in jail. One such decision that created quite a stir was the release of AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan. The court directed his release on November 14, while refusing to take cognizance of the chargesheet filed against him in a case of irregularities in the Delhi Waqf case.
