No grudge against man who threw ink on me: Ramdev tells court

Yoga guru Ramdev on Tuesday told a Delhi court that he has no "grudge" against the man, who had thrown black ink on his face while he was addressing a press conference here last year, and pardoned him.

Ramdev, who appeared before the court to depose as a witness in the case in which Delhi resident Kamran Siddiqui is facing trial for throwing ink on him, told the judge that he did not want the accused to be punished.

"I am a 'fakir' (saint). I want to pardon him (Siddiqui). He should give in writing that he will not indulge in such acts in future. I do not have any grudges against him but what he did was wrong," Ramdev told Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Ambika Singh.

After Ramdev told the court that he had pardoned Siddiqui, the judge asked the accused to apologise to the yoga guru.

Siddiqui thereafter apologised saying, "I am shameful for my act and I undertake not to do such thing in future.

"What I did was wrong. Please forgive me. I admit my fault," Siddiqui said and touched the feet of the yoga guru in the court room.

Siddiqui's counsel Kamran Malik also told the court that his client has admitted his fault and has tendered apology to Ramdev and they will also file an apology in writing.

Siddiqui is facing trial for the offences under sections 355 (assault or criminal force with intent to dishonour a person) and 153 (giving provocation with intent to cause riot) of the IPC for throwing black ink on Ramdev's face when he was addressing the press on January 14 last year.

The police, in its chargesheet filed against Siddiqui, claimed that the accused had thrown ink after Ramdev had refused to answer his question relating to 2008 Batla House encounter case in which suspect of the Delhi serial blasts was killed.

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