NEW DELHI: (Jun 6) A Delhi court on Saturday released Congress leader Alka Lamba on probation of good conduct for one year in a case where she has been convicted for assaulting police personnel during a protest at the Jantar Mantar in 2024.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Ashwani Panwar directed Lamba, who heads the Mahila Congress, the women’s wing of the party, to furnish a bond of Rs one lakh.
The judge said that the woman convicted was a first-time offender and granted her benefit under Section 401 of the BNSS, considering her “character and antecedents” and the circumstances in which the offence was committed.
The court was hearing the arguments on sentencing against Lamba, the president of All India Mahila Congress, who had been convicted last month for offences of obstructing public servants in discharge of duty, assaulting officials, disobeying a promulgated order and causing obstruction in a public way.
The court said, “In the present case, the convict is a woman and also a first-time offender and as such Section 401(1) of the BNSS (order to release on probation of good conduct) squarely applies.
“The state has not placed on record any previous conviction of the convict, and there is no argument as to why the benefits of Section 401 of the BNSS should not be given to the convict.”
It said there is no reason to deny the benefits of the benevolent provision.
“The ‘Reformative Theory of Punishment’ aims at rehabilitating an offender back to society as a law-abiding member, who would conform to the norms of the society,” the court said.
The court said that to meet the ends of justice and considering the character and antecedents of the convict as well as the circumstances in which the offence was committed, it is appropriate to extend the benefits of Section 401 of the BNSS to her.
It said, “Accordingly, this court is hereby releasing the convict Alka Lamba on probation of good conduct, on her entering into a bond in the sum of Rs one lakh with one surety in the like amount to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for one year from the date of entering into the bond.”
The court said that during the period of one year since entering into the bond, Lamba had to “keep peace and good behaviour” and further not indulge in similar offences, failing which she shall be produced to receive appropriate sentence regarding the offences for which she had been convicted.
