New Delhi, Aug 4 The Delhi High Court has quashed two FIRs against AAP MLA Kuldeep Kumar for organising a Tiranga Yatra in 2021 amid COVID-19 restrictions, holding that he has already been convicted in one case arising from the same procession.
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma observed that three FIRs were registered at three different police stations in connection with the same event and said any further conviction for violating the same prohibitory orders and COVID-19 protocols would be contrary to the constitutional guarantee against double jeopardy.
"The three FIRs arise out of one and the same Tiranga Yatra taken out on 15.08.2021 under the leadership of petitioner Kuldeep Kumar, then MLA of Kondli Assembly Constituency, Vidhan Sabha," the court said in its order.
"The allegations in all the three FIRs relate to the same procession, the same set of alleged acts, the same government notifications and prohibitory orders having been violated, and the same alleged offence punishable under Section 188 of IPC, and thus, the ambit of all three FIRs being entirely same," said the court in the judgement passed on August 3," it said.
The court held that since the prosecution arising from FIR No. 353/2021 registered at New Ashok Nagar Police Station had already culminated in the conviction of the lawmaker from Kondli Assembly constituency, proceedings in the remaining two FIRs could not be sustained.
In October 2022, a trial court here convicted Kumar under Section 188 (disobedience of order) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and directed him to pay a fine of Rs 1,600.
Kumar argued that once criminal proceedings arising out of the same incident had ended in conviction, continuation of multiple prosecutions for the same offence was not permissible.
The court rejected the prosecution's stand that every time the yatra entered the jurisdiction of a different police station, it constituted a fresh act of disobedience, giving rise to a separate offence.
The court stated that merely because the procession passed through different jurisdictions or because the alleged violation of the prohibitory orders continued as the procession progressed, it cannot be said that it was a case of "multiple independent transactions".
"Accordingly, FIR No. 413/2021 registered at P.S. Kalyanpuri, Delhi, and FIR No. 372/2021 registered at P.S. Ghazipur, Delhi, along with all consequential proceedings arising therefrom, are quashed," the court ordered.
