The Supreme Court on Friday granted protection from any coercive action to Congress leader Salman Khurshid in the alleged offence of trespassing into an office of the Delhi Public School Society in south Delhi here. A Bench of Chief Justice S. A. Bobde, B.R. Gavai and Surya Kant issued notice to Delhi government and the police on a plea by Mr. Khurshid challenging the High Court’s order dismissing his plea for quashing of summons.
The top court also issued a notice for exploring the possibility of a mediation between Mr. Khurshid and the DPS Society in the 2015 trespass case and listed the matter for further hearing on January 31, 2020. The high court had dismissed the plea of Congress leader seeking to quash the trial court order summoning him as an accused in a trespass case. It said there was abundant material on record to proceed against Khurshid and S R Vaish, who sought to assail the August 4, 2018 summoning order.
It had allowed the petition of Delhi Police and the complainant seeking to set aside the trial court’s order discharging another accused Sharda Nayak in the case. The high court had directed all parties, including Khurshid, to appear before the concerned trial court on December 16 for further proceedings.
Mr. Khurshid had earlier approached the high court challenging the trial court’s January 2018 order summoning him as an accused in the trespass case. The high court, in May 2018, had set aside the trial court’s order and asked it pass a fresh order. The trial court, on August 4, 2018, passed a fresh order after perusing the main charge sheet and the supplementary charge sheet and took cognisance and summoned Mr. Khurshid and others as accused in the case.
Trial court’s order challenged
They challenged the trial court’s order of last year before the high court. According to the police, the DPS Society had alleged that on March 30, 2015, Khurshid, along with Nayak, had trespassed into the office of the society and the latter had forcibly occupied the office of the Chairman.
“They took control of the premises of the society” and it was in the presence of Khurshid that Nayak announced herself as the society’s chairperson, the DPS Society had alleged, adding that Mr. Khurshid was part of a “well-planned conspiracy to illegally occupy and take over the premises of the society”.
Following the incident, an FIR was also lodged in the matter. Mr. Khurshid had alleged in his plea before the high court that the magistrate had passed the summoning order without application of mind. The plea had said the police had filed a charge sheet in the case in February 2016 exonerating Mr. Khurshid, but filed a supplementary charge sheet in December 2017 naming him and five others as accused.
The Congress leader was neither named nor was any role attributed to him in the FIR lodged on March 31, 2015 at Amar Colony police station here, the petition had claimed, adding that he was a life member of the DPS Society on the date of the alleged incident and had the legal right to visit the society premises as a stakeholder.
