Court Gives Relief To AAP MLA Till Feb 24

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday granted protection from arrest to Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amanatullah Khan until Feb 24 for allegedly attacking a police team in Jamia Nagar on Feb 10. The court of additional sessions judge Jitendra Singh said the allegation of the police team that Khan was instrumental in facilitating the escape of accused Shahwej Khan does not seem to carry weight since that accused person was already on anticipatory bail in the case in which police went to arrest him. The MLA and his supporters were booked under sections 221 (obstruction of public servants while they are performing their duties), 132 (criminal force or assault against a public servant while they are performing their duties), 121 (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 191 (rioting), 190 (unlawful assembly), 263 (resistance or obstruction to lawful apprehension of another person), 351 (criminal intimidation), and 111 (organised crime) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The next hearing of the matter is on Feb 24. Directing police to not take any coercive action against the MLA, the court asked Khan to join the investigation. Khan was issued a notice by police for his appearance at Jamia Nagar Police Station on Thursday. Apprehending arrest, he moved Rouse Avenue Court for anticipatory bail. Earlier in the day, opposing the anticipatory bail application of Khan, additional public prosecutor Atul Kumar Srivastava stated that the MLA "manhandled and threatened" the officers. The court asked the prosecution if they had any CCTV footage of the MLA doing so or interfering in the arrest of the accused person. To this, the additional public prosecutor said there was no electricity. Further questioning this, the court said that everyone has phones these days which can record everything. "Please take time and get me the complete facts," the court told the prosecution. Meanwhile, Delhi Police sources said that they were contemplating filing a petition against the court's order. They added that Khan was questioned for over three hours on Thursday, during which he was asked around 20 questions. "He was evasive during questioning," a source said.