A district court in Agra Monday stayed the conviction of BJP MP Ram Shankar Katheria in a 2011 case of assault on the staff of a private power firm for which he was sentenced to two years imprisonment by a lower court.
An MP-MLA court had on Saturday held the Etawah MP guilty of the charges he was accused of and sentenced him to two years of imprisonment, besides imposing a penalty of Rs 50,000.
On Monday, an application against the MP-MLA court order was filed in the District and Sessions Court in Agra which was approved. The district court ordered the MP to submit a personal bond of Rs 20,000 and two independent guarantors for the same amount and fixed September 11 as the next date of hearing. An elected representative sentenced for any offence for two years or more faces immediate disqualification.
This gives Katheria relief for now from the possibility of disqualification from the Lok Sabha till the next hearing on the application.
The lawmaker was booked for thrashing the staff of Torrent Power Limited in Agra in 2011 when the state was governed by the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Katheria was booked at the Hariparwat Police Station in Agra under IPC sections 147 (riots) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt to people).
Talking to reporters, Katheria said, "The FIR against me was politically motivated. I had been raising the issue of common people and will continue to do so."
Recounting the incident that took place on November 16, 2011, Katheria said, "It was a matter related to an SC woman, who irons clothes on the Shamsabad road in Agra. She had complained to me about getting excessive electricity bills from Torrent."
"One day the woman came to my office and threatened to commit suicide over the excessive bill," he said.
The MP said that after he heard the woman's complaint, he approached the Torrent office and asked officials there to reconsider the bills.
"In 2011, it was BSP's government in Uttar Pradesh and many fake cases were registered against me. However, I have full respect for the court," he said.
Ram Shankar Katheria contested from the Agra Lok Sabha seat in 2009 and won. He again won in 2014 and was made MoS HRD. He stayed in that post from November 2014 till 2016.