Dismissing plea, Delhi court says Kejriwal did not exhort voters to take bribe

“In my considered opinion, no offence is made out against the accused. Hence, the application of the complainant under Section 156(3) of the CrPC and the complaint is hereby dismissed,” the magistrate added.

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The order came on the complaint of advocate Ikrant Sharma who had alleged that during the election campaign in January 2015, Kejriwal had encouraged the voters of Delhi to accept illegal gratification from other parties as a reward for casting their votes.

“Further, the word ‘instigation’ has been defined in… Section 107 (abetment) of the IPC, which says that willful misrepresentation, or willful concealment of a material fact which a person is bound to disclose is to be there… whereas in this case, no such willful misrepresentation or concealment of material fact has been alleged by the complainant,” the court added.

In his plea, Sharma has sought lodging of an FIR against Kejriwal for alleged offences including offering or accepting bribe, punishment for bribery and abetment under the IPC.

Meanwhile, Kejriwal was on Wednesday granted permanent exemption from appearing at the Kurla magistrate court which is hearing a complaint against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for holding a political rally in Mankhurd in 2014 allgedly without seeking police permission.

Kejriwal, AAP leader Meera Sanyal and social activist Medha Patkar and five party volunteers have been named in the FIR. The case is being heard by Metropolitan Magistrate Richa Khedekar of the Kurla court.