Jhansi. An MP-MLA court in Jhansi on Friday sentenced 14 Congress members, including a former Union minister and district president, to two years of simple imprisonment and a fine of Rs 8,000 each in a 2013 protest case. However, all the accused were released on a personal bond of Rs 20,000 and given a month’s time to appeal against the verdict.
According to the accused’s lawyer Vivek Bajpai, his clients have been sentenced by Judge Anil Kumar to two years under section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC and six months under the Criminal Amendment Act. Both the sentences will run simultaneously.
This case dates back to June 11, 2013, when Pradeep Jain Aditya was the Union Minister of State for Rural Development in the UPA government and the state was ruled by the Samajwadi Party. At that time, the district was facing severe power cuts for long periods.
Jain, along with then Congress district president Naresh Bilhatia and hundreds of party workers, sat on a dharna near the Parichha Thermal Power Plant to protest against unbearably long power cuts. Later, he, along with hundreds of his colleagues, blocked the Kanpur highway for hours before the local administration persuaded them to end the dharna.
A named FIR was lodged at the Baragaon police station against Jain, Bilhatia and 12 others as well as hundreds of unidentified people under various charges. Other party workers who were sentenced include Rajiv Rai, Rajnish Srivastava, Naved Khan, Sherkhan, Suhail Jain, Saurabh Jain, Rahul Gupta, Shadab Ahmed, Manoj Kumar, Virendra Singh, Harish Kapoor and Salman Ahmed.
Reacting to the verdict, 63-year-old Jain said, “I respect the court’s decision. We protested for the rights of the people of Bundelkhand. The region produces plenty of electricity, but our people have to face long power cuts and environmental damage caused by ash from thermal power plants.” He further said that he will appeal to the High Court to challenge the decision.
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