In a setback to AAP MLA and former Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti, his estranged wife Lipika Mitra on Monday, the 5th October 2015, told the Supreme Court that she was not inclined to join mediation for an amicable resolution of their matrimonial dispute and complaint of domestic violence. She said that she wanted to pursue her case against Somnath Bharti. Lipika Mitra conveyed her decision not to sit with Somnath Bharti in mediation to resolve their dispute to the apex court bench headed by Chief Justice H.L. Dattu.
Taking note of her refusal to join mediation, the court disposed off Bharti’s earlier plea seeking anticipatory bail, asking him to approach the trial court for his regular bail.
The supreme court also asked the trial court to decide his bail application expeditiously either the same day or the next day.
Meanwhile, a magistrate’s court on Monday extended, till October 19, the judicial custody of Somnath Bharti in the said domestic violence case. This was done after he was presented before the court after expiry of his one-day judicial custody. Bharti has also moved his bail application before a sessions court. It will be heard on Tuesday (6th October 2015).
Bharti surrendered to police on last Monday evening and was arrested. He was named in an FIR filed on September 10 following a June 10 complaint by his wife who said he had been abusing her since their marriage in 2010.
