Delhi court orders FIR against Kejriwal for defacing public property
This story was originally published at 22:21 IST on 11 March 2025
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NEW DELHI – A Delhi court on Tuesday directed the police to file a first information report against former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly defacing public property. Additional chief judicial magistrate Neha Mittal also ordered police to register case against former member of legislative assembly Gulab Singh and the then Dwarka councilor Nitika Sharma noting that complainant Shiv Kumar Saxena presented visual evidence indicating that the illegal banners displayed the names and photographs of the accused individuals, including Kejriwal. The court ruled that hanging a banner board or affixing hoardings constitutes defacement of property under Section 3 of the Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, 2007.
Emphasising the gravity of the offense, the court said that it not only creates an eyesore and public nuisance, disrupting the city's aesthetic sense, but also poses a hazard to traffic flow by distracting drivers and endangering pedestrians and vehicles. "Deaths caused by collapse of illegal hoardings are not new in India," the court ruled.
"This court is of the considered opinion that the application under section 156(3) of erstwhile criminal procedure code deserves to be allowed. Accordingly, the concerned station house officer is directed to register FIR immediately under section 3 of Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act, 2007 and any other offence that appears to have been committed from the facts of the case," the court ordered.
Saxena, in 2019, accused Kejriwal, Singh, and Sharma of deliberately misusing public funds by erecting large-scale hoardings in various locations across Dwarka, a south-western district of Delhi.
In September 2022, a magisterial court dismissed the complaint for registering an FIR against Kejriwal and others. However, on January 21, 2023, a sessions court directed the magistrate to reconsider the matter and make a fresh decision. End
Reported by Kuldeep Singh
Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj
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