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Synopsis

The Supreme Court yesterday has granted the Delhi Police time till August 21st to file its reply on the bail petition filed by Bibhav Kumar, a close aide of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in the Swati Maliwal assault case.

ASG SV Raju requested for three weeks, but the court ended up granting him two weeks instead.

A three-judge bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta and Ujjal Bhuyan last week had come down heavily on Kumar and asked if this was the way to behave at the Chief Minister's residence. "Is this the way, is this a private residence...it is the CHIEF MINISTERS' RESIDENCE..You want to say as if a goon entered the residence and you wanted to protect...you have assaulted a young woman..", the bench had said.

Court had then issued notice returnable on August 7, 2024.

Kumar has filed the instant SLP against the Delhi High Court's order dated July 12 and has challenged the Delhi High Court's dismissal of his bail plea noting the possibility of Bibhav influencing the witness or tampering with evidence cannot be ruled out. 

Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta of the High Court held in the impugned order, ‘It cannot be ruled out that the witness may be influenced or evidence can be tempered. Therefore, the bail application is disposed of’. 

An FIR was registered against Bibhav based on Swati Maliwal's written complaint alleging that Kumar assaulted her when she went to meet Kejriwal at his residence on May 13. 

She further argued that Kumar slapped her at least 7-8 times while she screamed. She pushed him away to protect herself, but he then pounced on her, brutally dragged her, and deliberately pulled her shirt up.

Maliwal was a Rajya Sabha MP from the Aam Aadmi Party, who recently claimed that she is an ‘MP without a political party’. 

Case Title: Bibhav Kumar vs. State of NCT of Delhi