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Punjab minister Arora, 9 others get 2-year jail in 2008 assault & trespass case
The court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate in Sunam held Punjab cabinet minister Aman Arora and others guilty under IPC sections 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt); 148 (whoever is guilty of rioting, being armed with a deadly weapon) and 149 (members of unlawful assembly)
A Sunam court on Thursday sentenced Punjab cabinet minister Aman Arora, his 85-year-old mother and eight others to two years of imprisonment in a 2008 assault and trespass case.
Arora and others immediately applied for bail and were granted relief until January 21.
The trial started after the court took note of a private complaint filed by Arora’s brother-in-law Rajinder Deepa who alleged that the AAP leader and others had entered his house and assaulted him.
The court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate held the minister and others guilty under IPC sections 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt); 148 (whoever is guilty of rioting, being armed with a deadly weapon) and 149 (members of unlawful assembly).
“On the basis of the oral and documentary evidence on file, it stands proved beyond shadow of reasonable doubt that accused persons in furtherance of their common intention caused simple injuries to the complainant after trespassing into his house for causing hurt to complainant by assaulting him,” reads the court order. The court also imposed a fine of ₹5,000 on the accused.
Minister faces disqualification
After the judgment, Rajinder Deepa, a SAD leader, sought Arora’s disqualification from the assembly. “In Rahul Gandhi case also, he was disqualified immediately. Punjab assembly speaker should issue Arora’s disqualification order,” he said.
Arora, on his part, said that he would abide by the court order, and would appeal in a higher court.
Under the existing election law in Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, a person convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years gets disqualified from the date of such conviction and continues to be disqualified for a further period of six years since his/her release.
In a landmark verdict in ‘Lily Thomas v Union of India (2013)’, the Supreme Court declared Section 8(4) of the Act, which protected a convicted lawmaker from immediate disqualification if he/she filed an appeal within three months from the date of the verdict, unconstitutional.
Senior advocate Baltej Singh Sidhu said that disqualification “automatically” comes with the conviction on the date the order is passed by a court. He cited cases of Rahul Gandhi and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad’s disqualification in fodder scam in 2013. He also mentioned the case of Congress MLA Pradeep Chaudhary from Haryana assembly who was disqualified in January 2021 after his conviction for three years. Sidhu added that disqualification can only be revoked, if conviction is stayed by the appellate court.
