2014 assault case: Allahabad HC suspends jail term awarded to U.P. minister Nandi
Earlier, on January 25, the MP/MLA court in Prayagraj had awarded Nandi one-year imprisonment and also imposed ₹10,000 fine on him in the case and had granted him an interim bail
The Allahabad high court on Monday suspended the one-year sentence awarded to Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Nand Gopal Gupta ‘Nandi’ in January this year in a nine-year-old case of assault. The court also directed that Nandi be released on bail in the case.
Earlier, on January 25, the MP/MLA court in Prayagraj had awarded Nandi one-year imprisonment and also imposed ₹10,000 fine on him in the case and had granted him an interim bail. However, the MP/MLA court had absolved Nandi of the charges of allegedly committing atrocities on the members of Scheduled Caste community.
Hearing a criminal appeal filed by Nandi, Justice Rajiv Gupta passed the above directives while observing, “It is evident that the maximum sentence awarded to the appellant is one year and he has no criminal history to his credit and the appellant is already on interim bail. The final disposal of appeal will take a long time on account of heavy dockets, as such the appellant has made out a case for bail”.
Nandi was a candidate of the Congress party from Allahabad (now Prayagraj) in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. During the campaign, one Venkat Raman Shukla had registered a criminal case against him, alleging that at Nandi’s instigation, his supporters attacked the workers of the Samajwadi Party, fired at them and used caste-based language against them.
The criminal case against Nandi was registered at Mutthiganj police station in Prayagraj under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
