BJP MP Katheria acquitted in 2011 Agra assault case

Holding Katheria guilty, the MP/MLA court in Agra had handed him a two-year jail term in August this year following which the MP was under threat of being disqualified as the Lok Sabha member

The court of the district and sessions judge, Agra, on Thursday acquitted BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Etawah Ram Shanker Katheria of the charges of assaulting the employees of a power supply company in 2011. With this, the court also allowed the appeal filed by the BJP MP.

On November 16, 2011, a case was registered at the Hari Parvat police station in Agra for allegedly thrashing Torrent officials. (For Representation)

Holding Katheria guilty, the MP/MLA court in Agra had handed him a two-year jail term in August this year following which the MP was under threat of being disqualified from as the Lok Sabha member.

“The court of district and session judge at Agra allowed the appeal filed by Prof Ram Shankar Katheria and acquitted him of charges framed against him. The court set aside the order passed by the MP/MLA court at Agra which had held the MP guilty and sentenced him to two-year jail,” said Vijay Ahuja, the counsel for Katheria.

“After hearing the arguments in the appeal filed, the district and sessions judge held that a conviction requires proving of charges beyond reasonable doubt but there were not sufficient evidence to hold so against the appellant Ram Shankar Katheria. The maximum punishment handed to Katheria was not found justified as such the order passed by trial court was set aside and appeal was allowed,” Ahuja added.

“I am thankful to the court,” said a visibly delighted Katheria while talking to media persons on the court premises. The court of the district and sessions judge, Agra, had admitted the appeal on August 7 and had granted a stay on the lower court’s order till the disposal of the appeal. On August 5, 2023, the court of the special magistrate (MP/MLA) in Agra sentenced Katheria to two years’ imprisonment and imposed a penalty of ₹50,000.

The BJP MP also moved the application number 7B under section 389 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and complained that the maximum punishment in the crime was awarded by the lower court without providing sufficient ground for doing so and thus stay be granted.

On November 16, 2011, a case was registered at the Hari Parvat police station in Agra on the complaint of the staff of Torrent Power Limited, which looks after power supply in Agra, against Katheria for allegedly thrashing Torrent officials while they were hearing complaints in their office. The case was registered under Sections 147 (riot) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code. Katheria was the BJP MP from Agra at the time.