AAP MLA Prakash Jarwal moves HC for bail

A day after a sessions court here denied him bail, AAP MLA Prakash Jarwal, arrested for allegedly assaulting Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash, today moved the Delhi High Court seeking the relief.

The bail plea is likely to come up for hearing before Justice Mukta Gupta tomorrow.

Jarwal was yesterday denied bail for the second time with a court here saying it could not ignore the fact that the lawmaker had "openly violated the dignity" of a 56-year-old public servant who was "honestly discharging duties".

Deoli MLA Jarwal, who was arrested on February 20, is currently undergoing 14-day judicial custody in the case in which another MLA Amanatullah Khan was also arrested in connection with the alleged assault on the bureaucrat during a meeting at Delhi Chief Minister's Arvind Kejriwal's residence on the night of February 19.
 

The court, while refusing to grant bail to Jarwal, had said the situation could not be more alarming when lawmakers do not respect the rule of law.

While dismissing the plea of the MLA, the court had noted that the chief secretary's allegations were confirmed by his medical report as well as the statement of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's adviser V K Jain, who had claimed that he saw the CS being assaulted by the MLAs.

Seeking bail before the sessions court, Jarwal's counsel had pleaded that the MLA was a young politician and had got married recently on February 6 so he be granted the relief.

Opposing the bail plea, Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava had argued that it was a serious offence as a top state bureaucrat had been assaulted. The police had also alleged that the CCTV footage taken from the house of the CM appears to have been tampered with.

A magisterial court had on February 23 refused to grant bail to Khan and Jarwal, in the assault case saying the matter cannot be treated in "a casual and routine manner" while dubbing them as "history-sheeters".

Khan has not yet challenged the magisterial court's order denying him bail.

Both the MLAs were on February 22 sent to 14-day judicial custody by the court. While Jarwal was arrested on February 20, Khan, an MLA from Okhla, was taken into custody the next day.