High Court's notice to Delhi Police on Bibhav Kumar's plea challenging arrest

The High Court sought a response from the Delhi Police on Bibhav Kumar's plea challenging arrest in connection with assault on Swati Maliwal.

In Short

• Delhi High Court deems Bibhav Kumar's plea challenging arrest maintainable
• Notice issued to Delhi Police for response to Kumar's plea
• Bibhav Kumar arrested for allegedly assaulting Swati Maliwal

The Delhi High Court on Monday said that the plea filed by Bibhav Kumar, a close aide of Arvind Kejriwal, challenging his arrest in the Swati Maliwal assault case is maintainable.

A bench of Justice Swarna Kanta Sharma had earlier reserved orders solely on the aspect of maintainability after the Delhi Police opposed Bibhav's plea, deeming it non-maintainable.

The court has now issued a notice to the Delhi Police and sought their response.

In May, when the matter was initially heard, the court was inclined to issue a notice and seek a response from the Delhi Police. However, Senior Advocate Sanjay Jain, representing the Delhi Police, urged the court to defer the issuance of the notice, arguing that it would influence the entire process.

Jain pointed out that Bibhav Kumar had challenged his arrest on the grounds of non-compliance with Section 41A of the CrPC. He noted that this issue had already been decided by the trial court, and that order had not yet been challenged.

Senior Advocate N Hariharan, representing Bibhav Kumar, opposed Jain's submissions, stating that Bibhav’s fundamental rights were violated by his arrest, as the Delhi Police flouted the procedure under Section 41A.

Kumar is accused of assaulting Maliwal at the Chief Minister's residence in New Delhi on May 13. He approached the High Court after a Tis Hazari court in Delhi dismissed his bail plea on May 26.