The Allahabad High Court has suspended the one-year sentence awarded to Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Nand Gopal Gupta 'Nandi' in a case related to an alleged attack on the members of Scheduled Caste community. The court also directed that Nandi be released on bail in this case. On January 25 this year, an MP/MLA court here had awarded Nandi one-year imprisonment and Rs 10,000 fine in the case. However, while awarding the sentence, the MP/MLA court had acquitted him from the charges of allegedly committing atrocities on the members of Scheduled Caste community.
Hearing a criminal appeal on Monday filed by Nandi, Justice Rajiv Gupta passed the above directives, observing, "It is evident that the maximum sentence awarded to the appellant is one year and he has no criminal history to his credit and the appellant is already on interim bail. The final disposal of appeal will take a long time on account of heavy dockets, as such the appellant has made out a case for bail." Nandi was a candidate of the Congress in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. During the campaign, one Venkat Raman Shukla had registered a criminal case against Nandi, alleging that at Nandi's instigation, his supporters attacked the workers of Samajwadi Party, fired at them and used caste-based language.
This criminal case against Nandi was registered at Mutthiganj police station in Prayagraj under the Prevention of Atrocities Against Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes Act and some sections of the Indian Penal Code.
