New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday accorded interim protection against arrest to Aam Aadmi Party’s MLA from Okhla, Amanatullah Khan, in a case in which he is accused of obstructing police while they tried to arrest a proclaimed offender.
The case is a result of an FIR lodged earlier this week, which stated that Khan had obstructed a police operation and had stopped the arrest of Shavez Khan, who had been issued a proclaimed offender. But while hearing the matter, Special Judge Jitendra Singh of the Rouse Avenue Court asked an important question—if Shavez Khan was on anticipatory bail, then why had the police tried to arrest him in the first place?
The judge pushed the authorities to explain if this action was in line with their legal obligations. The prosecution argued that Amanatullah Khan had physically blocked the officers, going to the extent of manhandling them, and also threatened consequences against them. In search of tangible evidence, Judge Singh enquired from the police whether there was any CCTV footage to verify these allegations.
The reply by the Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Kumar Srivastava was unexpected—he told the court that the area lacked electricity then. The judge was not impressed with this reason, adding that police officers regularly record things on their phones. “These days, the police record everything. If you don’t have any video evidence, this undermines your case,” he said, instructing the authorities to produce a detailed account of the incident at the next hearing. Throughout the hearing, Srivastava contended that this was not the first time Khan had intervened in the police, insisting that the court scrutinise his previous behaviour.
However, the judge issued MLA interim protection against arrest until February 24, asking him to cooperate with the inquiry. Further, the court directed that the questioning of Khan should be recorded on CCTV to avoid any lack of transparency. Amanatullah Khan was later to be produced at the Jamia Nagar police station for questioning.
The FIR quoted officers saying that Khan had come to the spot with a group of 20-25 people, confronting them aggressively and challenging their authority. The complaint added that Khan and his supporters physically pushed and threatened the police, telling them that they would vanish into thin air, along with their official papers. Khan and his colleagues have been booked under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS),
such as hindering public servants from performing their duties, assaulting law enforcers, unlawful assembly, and criminal intimidation.
The authorities are still investigating the case. This is not the first time that Shavez Khan’s name has been mentioned in a violent crime. In 2018, he and his accomplices were accused of assaulting a group of men in the vicinity of Batla House. According to police records, Shavez, along with his accomplice Shabbu and four others, ambushed the victims in an open plot. The assailants allegedly fired shots and used iron rods during the attack. The case remains under investigation.