Hyderabad: BJP MLA T. Raja Singh was on Friday sentenced to jail by a special court here for using criminal force against the police in 2015. He became the first public representative from the state to be sentenced and convicted by the special court set up to try criminal cases and offences against MPs and MLAs.
The special courts were set up on the directions of the Supreme Court to expedite the cases against the public representatives, mostly in the time period of two to six months.
Special court judge Ch. V.R.V. Vara Prasad convicted the Raja Singh under Section IPC 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty) and 506 (criminal intimidation) and sentenced him to undergo one-year imprisonment and pay a fine of Rs 5,000. The FIR was registered in 2015 by the Bolaram police against him
The charges were that Raja Singh used foul language and criminal force against the police and prevented them from discharging their duties when they were trying to maintain public tranquility during a protest staged by BJP leaders against a ‘beef festival’ at Osmania University on December 10, 2015.
The police had arrested Raja Singh, who was at the forefront of the protest, on a preventive basis to avoid any breach in the law and order situation when the MLA attacked sub-inspector Mallesh.
At the trial, additional public prosecutor Banala Ajay Kumar submitted the video record to show the physical force used by Raja Singh. Convinced, the court found Raja Singh guilty and convicted him.
The court initially sentenced Singh to two years of imprisonment along with a Rs 500 fine. Counsel for the MLA urged the court to reduce the term by citing the good behavior of the MLA before the court.
Responding to this, the court reduced his sentence to one year and imposed a fine for Rs 5,000. In default of payment of fine, he will face simple imprisonment of three months.
Raja Singh was given time to file an appeal against the sentence. He was later granted bail on furnishing two sureties and a bond of Rs 10,000 each.
The state government had accorded sanction in December 2018 for the establishment of a special court at Hyderabad for the trial of cases involving MPs and MLAs. There was not much activity until the Supreme Court recently passed and order and issued guidelines asking all High Courts to regularly peruse the activities of the special courts.
