Midnight raid: Police to file FIR against Somnath Bharti, others

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Sunday asked the police to file an FIR against Law Minister Somnath Bharti and others after the Ugandan women lodged a complaint with the metropolitan magistrate. The court has passed order under section 156 (3) CrPC to file an FIR.

Women alleged that they were mistreated during a midnight raid by Bharti. The minister has, however, denied the allegation saying, "I strongly deny that me or any of my supporters had any role in the violence that happened there. I do not know if court has directed filing a case against me."

One of the Ugandan women revealed that they were assaulted by the mob accompanying Bharti. "We were returning from a party when we reached here and we saw a lot of Indian men on the road. They stopped our car, started shouting at us. We were really scared, so refused to step out. They started banging the doors of our car. When the police came, we finally stepped out of the car."

Another woman demanded Bharti's resignation. She said, "Police helped us because I think they were going to kill us. The way they were treating us as if we were criminals. We are not criminals. The minister who conducted the raid should be made to resign. What he's doing is not right . We just want to go to our embassy."

On Saturday, Bharti tweeted, "Will do an expose in sometime on sex racketeering in Khirki extension."

The Ministry of External Affairs has condemned the incident saying that the complaints filed will be probed. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said the incident was unacceptable. "I think it's shocking, completely unconstitutional, unacceptable. I am worried about attitude here which just because you see someone different from you put label of worst kind of social evil on them. It's completely unacceptable. What face will we show to the world that in India we have people with such narrow, such ridiculous way of treating foreigners."

On Saturday, the Organisation of African Unity met Foreign Ministry officials to lodge a protest. Activists will on Sunday hold a protest at the Jantar Mantar against Bharti.

Condemning the incident, MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said the matter will be investigated. "We said we condemn this incident. We also explained that action is underway and the complaints registered will be investigated. We are in touch with the Delhi Police Commissioner on this matter and we intend to take this forward."

Meanwhile, Ethiopian Ambassador Gennet Zewide said the security remains a concern. She said, "Of course we're very much concerned, our nationals are being harassed like that. It is not only a concern to African ambassadors but to everybody. I think the way it was handled, was not appropriate. It is not right and it has to be condemned. We'd like to have measures where every citizen, including our citizens of Africa, either for education or medical reason or tourism, have to feel safe."

Earlier, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has strongly defending his government and his ministers vigilante stunts. Kejriwal defended his Bharti while stressing that the Delhi Police must be made answerable to the state government and not the Central government.