 "All you need to know about Somnath Bharti's many controversies")
Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said former Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti should surrender to police and that by "running away" from arrest "he is becoming (an) embarrassment for the party and his family".
The strong statement comes after the Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed Bharti’s anticipatory bail plea in a domestic violence case filed by his wife Lipika Mitra. The court said Bharti was "not only violent and outrageous at home, but also before the public at large".
Soon after the bail plea was dismissed, Delhi Police raided the legislator's residence and office in Malviya Nagar, but he was missing, a media report said.
But this not the first time Bharati has been in the news for the wrong reasons. A laundry list of controversies has made him the enfant terrible of AAP. Here are some of the major controversies in which Bharti was involved.
The midnight raid at Khirki Extension
The former Delhi law minister and a number of AAP members and volunteers went to the Khirki Extension neighbourhood on the intervening night of January 15-16, 2014 to raid houses where people of African descent were staying. This was done allegedly after getting a tip-off about a sex-and-drugs racket operating out of this residential colony. Bharati had even called in TV channels to accompany him raid. At the scene, he insisted that the Malviya Nagar SHO raid a house without a warrant, and got into a spat with the cop when the latter refused to do so.
In its charge sheet filed on September 27 last year, the Delhi Police had said that nine African women were victims of molestation and manhandling by the mob led by Bharti.
Later medical tests at AIIMS confirmed that no drug traces were found in their (the African women) bodies.
The racism row
Rights activists and women's organizations had accused Bharti of being a racist after his adventures at Khirki Extension. In one of his comments on camera, the minister said that Nigerian girls and men all indulge in prostitution and drug trafficking and it is a threat to local ma, behen, beti (mothers, sisters and daughters). He also allegedly said that Ugandans and Indians were different, and that African people must leave India.
The spitting story
On January 21, 2014, Bharti courted controversy when he said that he would spit on the faces of BJP leader Arun Jaitley and senior lawyer Harish Salve. This was in response to Jaitley and Salve’s criticism of the AAP government for their unilateral action against foreign nationals and holding a dharna outside Rail Bhawan. Bharti had also warned Jaitley and Salve to be prepared for the wrath of the people, who he said would thrash the duo. 'Chun chun kar maregi' were his precise words.
Tussle with law secretary
A few days after taking charge of the law ministry, Bharti sought a meeting with all district judges of Delhi, a move that was strongly opposed by A S Yadav, law secretary in the Delhi government. Yadav reasoned that it would not be proper to convene such a meeting as the judiciary was independent of the executive and that the matter must be referred to the Delhi High Court. But, Bharti reportedly told Yadav to fall in line.
Track record as a lawyer
A TOI report points out that Bharti's track record as a successful lawyer involved an indictment for "tampering with evidence" by a Patiala House court. He was indicted by a CBI court for trying to influence a prosecution witness in a case in 2013.