No legal opinion for filing criminal case against Bhushan

The Delhi police on Monday told a court that its prosecution branch has not given any legal opinion for lodging a criminal case against key erstwhile Team Anna member and lawyer Prashant Bhushan for allegedly supporting plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir.

The police, however, said it has verified that the remarks, which also sought withdrawal of army from the state, were made in Varanasi as stated in the complaint.

The statement to this effect was made by the police in its Action Taken Report submitted before Metropolitan Magistrate Purshottam Pathak in compliance with its order.

The ATR filed through Additional DCP (Central) said, "The legal opinion in the matter was sought from the prosecution branch, which did not give any opinion as the matter is subjudice."

"From the gist of the complaint, place of occurrence was found to be Varanasi," the police said.

The plea made by Vibhor Anand, a law student, seeks directions to the police for registration of a FIR against Bhushan on charges of sedition for his alleged remarks on the status of Kashmir and for withdrawal of Army from the region. The court has now fixed the matter for October 15.

Meanwhile, the court also posted for October 15 the matter relating to complaint against another former Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal for making derogatory remarks against MPs in his speech at an election campaign rally in Ghaziabad in February.

Kejriwal had in his speech allegedly called MPs "rapists, murderers and looters", evoking sharp reaction from politicians.

The police had told the court that since the incident took place at Ghaziabad, the complaint has been forwarded to the police there for necessary action.

The court also deferred its order on another complaint made by Anand seeking registration of FIR against yoga guru Ramdev for his alleged objectionable remarks against Parliamentarians.

The police had informed the court that they are not required to take any action on the complaint against Ramdev as the remarks referred to in the complaint were made in Chhattisgarh.