A Delhi court Friday said that there was enough material to show that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Amanatullah Khan provoked a crowd knowing they will “commit a riot” during a demolition drive in Kalindi Kunj last year, while framing charges against him under sections of rioting. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Harjeet Singh Jaspal framed charges against the legislator and 24 others under several sections related to rioting. The court also discharged eight others, noting that there was no material to frame charges against them. As per the prosecution's case, Khan and his supporters along with other men created a ruckus when the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) was undertaking a demolition drive in Kalindi Kunj on May 12, 2022. The crowd had pelted the police with stones and pushed several of its officers when they they tried to pacify them. The court perused the statement of the witnesses in this case to argue that the “crowd became exceedingly aggressive, they tried to stop the officers and the staff of the SDMC from carrying on the demolition drive and tried to damage the public property, including the JCB machines deputed at the spot for demolition activity, the crowd started pelting stones, in the course of which police personnel became injured.”
