Maliwal assault case: Accused Bibhav Kumar sent to 5-day police custody

Delhi court orders his medical examination every 24 hours, says investigating agency would not subject the accused to “any torture”

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Sunday allowed five-day custodial interrogation of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav Kumar in the Swati Maliwal assault case, since the police remand was a “necessity” in the matter.

Metropolitan Magistrate Gaurav Goyal was hearing the application of the Delhi Police, which was represented by Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava. The police had sought a seven-day custody. It is alleged that Kumar, who is Kejriwal’s personal assistant, assaulted AAP MP Swati Maliwal at the CM’s residence on May 13.

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“Considering the submissions made on behalf of both parties, I find there is a necessity of police custody remand in the present case. Accordingly, the application moved by the Investigating Officer (IO) is partly allowed and the accused is remanded to police custody for five days,” the court said in its order passed on Sunday afternoon.

It noted the prosecution’s submissions about the need to take Kumar to Mumbai and other parts of the national capital to collect evidence, which was not possible without the accused’s custody. “Admittedly, the case is at a nascent stage. Allegations made in the FIR are corroborated in her (Maliwal’s) statement recorded by the Magistrate on oath and further, it is again corroborated in the medico-legal case (MLC) of the victim or complainant,” the court said.

The Magistrate also observed, “I am aware of the view of constitutional courts that the opportunity must be given to the investigating agency to complete the investigation in order to reach the truth of the matter but at the same time the rights of the accused are also to be protected.”

Asking the IO to take Kumar into formal custody, the court directed his medical examination every 24 hours and said the investigating agency would not subject the accused to “any torture”. It also allowed Kumar to meet his advocate and wife for half-an-hour each while in police custody. Kumar’s application for providing requisite medicines was also allowed.

The proceedings, which commenced around 9.15 pm on Saturday, saw initial arguments by Srivastava, following which the Magistrate said, “I find force in the arguments of the APP (Additional Public Prosecutor) that there were sufficient grounds to arrest the accused without notice.” The prosecutor made several arguments, including those mentioned in the remand application and also that the “means or weapon” by which Kumar assaulted Maliwal had to be recovered.

The vehement counter-arguments by Kumar’s counsels continued for more than one-and-a-half hours. One of his counsels, Rajiv Mohan, claimed that Maliwal had lodged the FIR “belatedly after deliberation and concoction”.

The Delhi Police arrested Kumar earlier on Saturday and his anticipatory bail plea was subsequently observed as becoming “infructuous” by a Delhi court.