Swati Maliwal assault case: Bibhav Kumar's arrest necessary as per law, says Delhi HC
Kejriwal's close aide Bibhav Kumar in a case concerning alleged assault on AAP MP Swati Maliwal was «necessary» and police strictly followed the law while doing so, the Delhi High Court has said. The court, which on Friday dismissed Kumar's petition that claimed his arrest was illegal, said in its written judgment that there was no merit in his plea.
Kumar, currently in judicial custody, allegedly assaulted Maliwal at Kejriwal's official residence on May 13. He was arrested by the Delhi Police on May 18.
In his plea, Kumar had sought a direction to declare his arrest as illegal and in gross violation of the provisions of section 41A (notice of appearance before police officer) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and against the mandate of the law.
Justice Neena Bansal Krishna, in the judgment released on Saturday, observed that after the arrest, the trial court heard Kumar as well as the State before allowing police custody for five days and also noted that while the law gave discretion to the investigating officer to not arrest a person during the investigation, in the present circumstances, there «existed sufficient grounds of arrest of the accused petitioner without notice».
Swati Maliwal assault case: Delhi HC upholds arrest of Arvind Kejriwal's former aide Bibhav Kumar
The court said an individual has the «right to liberty» as enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution and the law has been designed to ensure that such liberty is not violated, except by due process of law.
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