The Allahabad High Court on Monday stayed criminal proceedings initiated by a local court in Gautam Buddh Nagar against Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary for alleged violation of model code and COVID-19 norms during 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
Hearing a plea by Chaudhary, a Rajya Sabha MP, under Section 482 (inherent powers of high court), Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh also asked the state government's counsel to file reply within four weeks. The high court also gave two weeks' time to the applicant's counsel to file rejoinder affidavit thereafter.
The court directed to list this case for the next hearing after six weeks.
An FIR was registered against former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, RLD chief Chaudhary and others at Dadri police station in Greater Noida in 2022 under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Epidemic Diseases Act, alleging that they violated model code of conduct and COVID-19 norms. Subsequently, a charge sheet was filed against them on October 12, 2022.
During the hearing, Chaudhary's counsel Imran Ullah contended that the applicant was accompanying Akhilesh Yadav, against whom the entire criminal proceedings have already been stayed by a coordinate bench of this court.
Besides, his role is a limited one, as he was only present in the bus, which was carrying Akhilesh Yadav.
Ullah further contended that in such type of cases relating to violation of guidelines, the complaint can only be filed by the person whose order has been violated. In this case, it was not done and directly an FIR was lodged, he said.
He also contended that all witnesses in this case are policemen whose statements are same, hence cannot be relied on.
