India, March 18 -- The sessions court has rejected a plea filed by the Mayor and BJP corporator Ritu Rajesh Tawde seeking discharge from a 2016 case of alleged assault on municipal school teachers. Additional Sessions Judge YP Manathkar said the victims and eye witnesses had categorically named the BJP corporator as "the person who beat them by hands inside the school", and the prosecution material, including witness statements, was "more than sufficient to frame charges" against her.

The court relied on settled Supreme Court precedents and underscored that it need not conduct a detailed evaluation of evidence at the discharge stage; "grave suspicion" alone was enough to frame charges against the newly-elected Mayor, it said.

"The judge...