Lucknow. The Allahabad High Court on Thursday stayed the execution of the sentence awarded to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh by the Sultanpur MP/MLA court in the 2001 road protest case.
On January 11 last year, the special court had sentenced Singh to three months’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1,500 on him for inciting violence and obstructing a public road during a protest in Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur district in 2001.
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, while hearing an urgent petition on Wednesday, had said that Singh need not surrender before the Sultanpur court till the order on his bail plea, which was to be heard on Thursday. Sanjay Singh and five others were convicted in the case by the Sultanpur MP/MLA court on January 11, 2023 and their appeal was rejected by the sessions court on August 6 this year. The Sultanpur MP/MLA court had issued a non-bailable warrant against Singh, Samajwadi Party leader Anoop Sanda and four others on August 13. A bench of Justice K S Pawar passed this order on Thursday on the revision petition filed by Singh.
While admitting the petition for final hearing, the bench said, “Till further order of this court, the execution of the sentence given by the judgment and the orders under revision shall remain suspended.” The bench said that the revisionist – Singh – will have to furnish a personal bond of Rs 50,000 to the satisfaction of the special court, with an undertaking that he or his lawyer will appear before the court when the revision petition is listed for hearing.
While passing the order, the judge said, “Prima facie, the elements of Sections 143 and 341 of the Indian Penal Code are missing and the judgments of both the lower courts are contradictory.” The special court had convicted Singh under Sections 143 (being a member of an unlawful assembly) and 341 (wrongfully restraining a person) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Representing Singh in the High Court, senior advocate and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader SC Mishra argued that the testimony of prosecution witnesses has proved the prosecution’s case wrong. Mishra said, “Singh has also been falsely implicated in some other criminal cases due to political vendetta.”