New Delhi, April 24 -- The Rouse Avenue court on Friday acquitted former Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti and 16 others in a case of alleged assault on women of African origin. An FIR was lodged at the Malviya Nagar police station in 2014.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Neha Mittal acquitted Somnath Bharti and other accused persons.

"The statements of the victims are deemed to be inadmissible as they did not come to court. Any instance of unlawful assembly could not be proved. The prosecution has failed to prove its case," ACJM Mittal said.

The court said that the allegations against the accused persons do not stand.

Somnath Bharti, Aditya, Badlu Khan, Badal Khan, Deepak Chauhan, Anil Kumar, Pawan Saini, Naresh Saini, Dh...