'Prime Facie Cognizable Offence Committed' : Delhi Court Orders FIR In Complaint Against Arvind Kejriwal & Others Over Illegal Hoardings

A Delhi Court on Tuesday directed registration of FIR in a complaint against Aam Aadmi Party supremo and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other individuals under the Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act.

ACJM Neha Mittal of Rouse Avenue Courts directed the concerned SHO to immediately register the FIR under Section 3 of the enactment which deals with the penalty for defacing property in public view.

The Court allowed the application filed by one Shiv Kumar Saxena under Section 156 (3) of Cr.P.C seeking registration of FIR.

Saxena alleged that in 2019, Kejriwal and other individuals misused public money by putting huge size hoardings having greetings for the general public in city's Dwarka at crossings and roads, power poles, DDA park boundary wall and other public places. 

Apart from Kejriwal, the complainant arrayed then MLA Gulab Singh and Nigam Parshad Nitika Sharma as accused.

The complaint alleged that one of the hoardings stated that the Delhi Government will start registration for darshan at Kartarpur Sahib with the photographs and names of Kejriwal and Singh. Another hoarding had greetings of Gurunanak Dev Jayanti and Kartik Purnima with photograph and name of Sharma.  The complainant also referred to another hoarding containing the pictures of Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, JP Nadda, Parvesh Verma and Ramesh Bidhuri.

As per the order, Saxena had mentioned names of approximately 8-10 persons as accused including the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the complaint filed by him in the concerned police station and before the DCP but most of the names were omitted from the application seeking registration of FIR.

It was stated that displaying of the hoardings at public property was clear violation of DPDP Act, 2007 for which a written complaint was made by Saxena but no action was taken.

The judge said that the complainant prima facie showed compliance of Section 154(3) of Cr.P.C. i.e. Saxena had approached the concerned SHO and DCP for action on his complaint and that that no action was taken.

Further, the Court concluded that the act of hanging banner board or affixing hoardings amounts to defacement of property under Section 3 of DPDP Act, 2007.

“The complainant has placed on record the photographs with date and time stamp to show that hoardings having the names and photographs of the accused persons and other persons have been illegally put up. Section 5 of DPDP Act, 2007 states in express terms that an offence under this Act shall be cognizable,” the Court said.

It added that Saxena had prima facie shown that cognizable offence has been committed.

The judge said that the seriousness of the offence punishable under Section 3 of DPDP Act 2007 can be gauged from the fact that it is not only an eyesore and public nuisance thereby destroying the aesthetic sense of the city but is also hazardous and dangerous to the smooth flow of traffic by distracting traffic and poses a safety challenge to the pedestrians and vehicles.

Observing that deaths caused by collapse of illegal hoardings are not new in India, the Court said:

“Further, the investigating agency cannot be allowed to blow hot and cold as record shows that the delay in the present case took place on account of non-filing of ATR on several dates of hearing despite repeated directions of the court and now, the investigating agency cannot shrug its responsibility by saying that evidence cannot be collected due to lapse of time.”

In 2022, the application in question was dismissed by a magisterial court with the observation that field investigation was not required in the case. Saxena then filed a revision petition and the order passed by the magistrate was set aside. The matter was remanded back to the Trial Court with directions to decide the application afresh with a speaking order on the disclosure of a cognizable offence from the allegations made by Saxena.

Click here to read order