Kanwar Lal Meena, the ruling BJP MLA from Anta who was awarded a three-year jail term in a 20-year-old criminal case, surrendered before the trial court in Manohar Thana town of Jhalawar district, Rajasthan, on Wednesday.
Complying with the court’s directive, the convicted legislator appeared before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Court in Manohar Thana on the last day of the surrender deadline.
Following the court order, a warrant was issued for his imprisonment, and Meena was later escorted by police to the Aklera Sub-Jail.
According to case records, on February 3, 2005, Meena allegedly threatened then-SDM Ram Niwas Mehta at gunpoint, demanding re-polling for the Deputy Sarpanch election in Khatakhedi village near Manohar Thana.
Although the lower trial court initially acquitted Meena, the Additional District Judge (ADJ) court in Aklera convicted him in 2020, sentencing him to three years in jail along with a fine of ₹10,000.
Meena challenged the verdict in the Rajasthan High Court, which dismissed his appeal on May 2 this year. Subsequently, the Supreme Court also rejected his special leave petition about two weeks ago and directed him to surrender by May 14, a deadline later extended by the trial court to May 21.
Reacting to the development, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the state assembly, Tika Ram Jully, described the day as a “black day in Rajasthan’s legislative history,” noting that a sitting MLA has surrendered as a convict to serve a jail sentence.
Jully also questioned the delay in disqualifying Meena under the Representation of the People Act. “It is unprecedented and shameful that even 20 days after the conviction, the MLA has not been disqualified. I hope the Speaker will now act and terminate his assembly membership,” he said.
He further hinted at the possibility of filing a contempt petition in the Supreme Court over the Speaker’s inaction.
The Congress party has consistently demanded Meena’s disqualification following the Rajasthan High Court’s May 2 dismissal of his appeal. A Congress delegation also met Governor Haribhau Bagade on Monday, seeking his intervention in the matter.
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