The opposition Congress has urged Rajasthan Assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani to initiate the process of declaring BJP legislator Kanwar Lal Meena (Antah Baran) ineligible and terminating his membership after the High Court dismissed his appeal against a lower court’s order sentencing him to 3 years in jail in a criminal case.
A High Court bench of Justice Umashankar Vyas on Friday endorsed the ADJ Aklera court’s verdict of 3-year imprisonment for MLA Meena in a 20-year-old case of threatening an on-duty public servant.
Reacting to the court’s verdict, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Tika Ram Jully and Congress party state president Govind Singh Dotasara said that under the provisions of the law, any MLA or MP convicted in a case and sentenced to a jail term of 2 years or more shall stand disqualified.
Hence, Assembly Speaker Devnani should take up the issue and declare him disqualified, terminating his membership, LoP Jully said.
“We will seek audience with the Speaker on Monday to raise our demand”, he added.
The LoP recalled that the Lok Sabha membership of party leader Rahul Gandhi was terminated immediately after the confirmation of a 2-year imprisonment for him in a defamation case.
Gandhi was also compelled to vacate the government bungalow allotted to him on short notice, Jully quipped.
As per the case record, on February 3, 2005, Meena had threatened then SDM Ram Niwas Mehta at gunpoint to concede to his demand for re-polling in the election for Deputy Sarpanch in Khatakhedi village near Manohar Thana town. He had also tried to block traffic on the road and broke the CD of official videography.
Meena was acquitted in the trial court. However, in an appeal filed by IAS officers Dr Pritam B Yashwant and Ram Niwas Mehta, the ADJ of Aklera court convicted Meena in 2020, sentencing him to 3 years of imprisonment and a cash penalty of Rs 10,000.
Meena then appealed before the High Court, but his appeal was dismissed.