NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has convicted Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Akhilesh Pati Tripathi in a 2020 case of voluntarily causing hurt to a student.
Special Judge Geetanjli Goel said the prosecution was able to prove the guilt of the accused "beyond reasonable doubt" for the offence under Section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of IPC.
The court, however, acquitted Tripathi of the offence punishable under Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act), saying that the incident arose out of political rivalry, more so given the fact that the elections were to be held the next day.
"In the circumstances of the case, it is difficult to believe the case of the prosecution that the accused had uttered any caste-related remarks against the complainant, much less to show any intention to humiliate or intimidate the complainant as he belonged to Scheduled Caste," the judge said in an order passed on March 25.
The court will hear on April 13 the argument on the quantum of punishment where Tripathi may get a maximum one-year jail term.
According to the prosecution, the FIR was registered in February 2020 on the complaint of a student, who claimed that the accused beat him up at Jhandewalan Chowk, Lal Bagh while he was going home on February 7, 2020.
The complainant, who belonged to the Scheduled Caste, had also alleged that Tripathi hurled casteist slurs at him.
