India Court Acquits Delhi MLA in Quran Desecration Case
Two others—Vijay Kumar and Gaurav Kumar—were sentenced to two years imprisonment with a fine of Rs 11,000. They have a month to appeal the order.
“After the recovery of torn pages of Quran from Malerkotla city on June 24, 2016, initially Police had registered a case against Vijay Kumar and two others including Nand Kishore and Gaurav Kumar. But later to drag the name of AAP, MLA Naresh Yadav was added. But since police failed to prove their allegations against Yadav, a local court has acquitted him and another accused Nand Kishore,” Yadav’s lawyer Narpal Singh Dhaliwal said.
Yadav is the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party.
Leader of Opposition (LOP) Harpal Singh Cheema was also in court during the hearing.
“I’ve always said the case was politically motivated, and that police have no evidence against me,” Yadav said after the verdict.
Cheema claimed that the case was a conspiracy by the former state government in 2016 to dent AAP’s growing popularity in the state. Punjab government was then led by the Shiromani Akali Dal.
“Police officers acted like puppets of their political bosses and registered a false FIR against the MLA. Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh must accelerate investigations in all sacrilege cases to punish the guilty,” said Cheema.
Residents of Malerkolta found torn pages of Quran in the small hours of June 25, 2016. Police booked three people—Kishore, Vijay Kumar and Gaurav Kumar—in the case soon after.
Vijay Kumar was arrested from Patiala two days later. Police claimed later that he accused Naresh Yadav of being involved, prompting them to register a case against the AAP leader.
Yadav had moved an application in a local court in September 2018 for an inquiry into the suspicious transfer of Rs 90 lakh to the bank account of accused Vijay Kumar. H also asked for investigation into his links with the RSS.
Source: tribuneindia.com
