BJP leader sentenced to 3 months jail for slapping Maharashtra official

In 2016, BJP leader Anil Bonde slapped a Maharashtra revenue official who rejected more than 50% of the 400 applications received for monthly old age pension of ₹600 which did not attach a ₹5 fee.

NAGPUR: An Amravati sessions court on Tuesday convicted former Maharashtra minister Anil Bonde for slapping a revenue official in 2016 and sentenced him to three months’ jail and a ₹10,000 fine.

Maharashtra BJP leader Anil Bonde heads the state party unit’s farmers’ cell. In 2016 when the incident took place, he was the area legislator (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

District and session judge SS Adkar said if the convict fails to pay the fine, he will have to spend one more month’ in prison.

Bonde had slapped Warud naib tahsildar, Nandkishore Kale, on September 30, 2016 after the official rejected 230 out of 400 applications received for benefits under a government scheme for the elderly because the beneficiaries hadn’t attached the court fee stamp of ₹5.

Under Maharashtra government’s Shravan Bal Yojana, people over the age of 65 were entitled to receive ₹600 every month from the state if they did not have any other means to support themselves.

When the large number of his constituents approached Anil Bonde, who was then the legislator from the area, Bonde accompanied some of them to the revenue office and confronted the naib tahsildar. He later beat up Kale.

Kale, an ex-army man, lodged a complaint with the local police, alleging that the BJP leader, who was the then local MLA, also threatened with dire consequences. Government officials said in the complaint that the BJP leader not only slapped him, but also threw paperweights and pens at him.

Relying on the evidence given by the witnesses examined by the prosecution, judge SS Adkar found Bonde guilty under sections 332, 504 of the Indian Penal Code. He was sentenced to three months imprisonment and fined ₹10,000. The court also granted bail to Bonde when his counsel moved the application.

Bonde, who heads the Bharatiya Janata Party’s farmers’ cell in Maharashtra, said that he will challenge the judgement before the high court.