Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi convicted for breaching prohibitory orders during 2009 LS polls

NEW DELHI: A local court in Rampur district of Uttar Pradesh has sentenced Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi to a year in jail for breaching prohibitory orders during the Lok Sabha elections in 2009.

He and 19 others were released on bail of `6,000, each, later. They are likely to appeal against the verdict in the district court. Judge Manish Kumar Yadav pronounced Naqvi and 19 others guilty of violating Section 144 of the CrPC imposed in Patwai police station area of Rampur, during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, and indulging in unlawful assembly. The judge sentenced Naqvi for the maximum punishment under this law.

Asked about the case, Naqvi told ET: “We will study the court judgement and explore the next course of action of going in appeal in a higher court against the verdict.”

BJP’s Rampur candidate for the 2009 polls, Govind Ram Lodhi, was arrested by the police and allegedly beaten up for holding a protest demonstration. Naqvi and his supporters rushed to the Patwai police station in support of Lodhi, who was released later.

However, police lodged a complaint of unlawful assembly against him, 19 supporters and 200 others for violating the order that prohibited assembly of four or more people in the area. BJP had complained to the Election Commission against the local administration and the police and the EC observer had taken strong exception to the treatment meted out to protestors.