New Delhi : Former Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti Tuesday moved the Delhi High Court against the NHRC decision asking the city government to pay Rs.25,000 each to the African women “victims of racial prejudice and unlawful acts” whose homes the AAP leader had allegedly barged into during a controversial midnight campaign.
Justice Manmohan recused himself from the plea and transferred it to another bench. The case would come up for hearing Wednesday.
The Aam Aadmi Party leader and then law minister had allegedly visited a house in Khirki Extension area in south Delhi in January after receiving complaints about an alleged prostitution and drug racket.
Seeking directions to nullify the Sep 29 order of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the plea said the decision had no jurisdiction as Bharti was not given a “reasonable opportunity” of being heard and to produce evidence in his defence.
Asking to declare the order a “nullity in law”, the plea said: “Bharti was not given any notice of certain proceedings initiated by the NHRC suo motu in January 2014, in which he was prejudicially viewed by the NHRC to be a principal actor, but in which proceedings he was not given any opportunity at all of being heard.”
The commission, while announcing the compensation, said it believed that the human rights of the African women were violated and hence the case was fit for monetary relief.
The plea said the NHRC direction gives an impression that the allegations were “prima facie proved”.
Filed through advocate Deepak Khosla, the plea sought direction that the NHRC produce its records pertaining to the case before the court, and then proceed to certify and declare them incorrect.
It also sought damages of Rs.100 crore jointly from the NHRC, the central government, and Delhi Police for defaming Bharti.
According to the NHRC, the AAP leader with his supporters humiliated the African women and wrongfully confined them in a vehicle on the grounds that they were indulging in a sex and drug trafficking racket.
But when they were illegally searched by a woman doctor at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), no drug could be recovered, it added.
They were also abused racially, the commission said.