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BJP MP Katheria to keep Lok Sabha seat as Agra sessions court stays conviction
Court stays conviction of BJP leader Ram Shankar Katheria in thrashing case; Katheria says justice has been done.
A session court in Agra has stayed the conviction of BJP leader Ram Shankar Katheria in a 12-year-old case of assault and rioting. Katheria welcomed the order and said that justice has been done to him.
The former Minister of State for Human Resource Development was facing disqualification from the Lok Sabha after Special Magistrate MP/MLA Court held Katheria guilty of the charges and sentenced him to two years in jail. The lawmaker from UP's Etawah was booked for thrashing the staff of Torrent Power Limited in Agra in 2011 when the state was governed by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
Recounting the incident that took place on November 16, 2011, Katheria on Saturday said, “It was a matter related to an SC woman, who irons clothes on the Shamsabad road in Agra. She had complained to me about getting excessive electricity bill from Torrent.”
"One day the woman came to my office and threatened to commit suicide over the excessive bill," he said.
The MP said that after he heard the woman's complaint, he approached the Torrent office and asked officials there to reconsider the bills.
"In 2011, it was BSP's government in Uttar Pradesh and many fake cases were registered against me. However, I have full respect for the court," he said.
The opposition leaders had been pressing for immediate disqualification of Katheria citing a criminal defamation case against Rahul Gandhi in which he was disqualified from the lower house within 24 hours of the trial court verdict. Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath sought Katheria's disqualification as Lok Sabha MP from Etawah in Uttar Pradesh claiming his conviction was for an offence graver than what Rahul Gandhi was accused of.
"He (Ram Shankar Katheria) should be disqualified. The law is equal for everyone. Now the Supreme Court decision has also come in the case of Rahul Gandhi. There is a big difference between what he (Katheria) did and what Rahul Gandhi is accused of,” Nath told PTI.
