Special court in UP gets tough with netas

The Allahabad Special MP-MLA court is showing no leniency towards lawmakers who have been booked in various cases.

The court, on Wednesday, made former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui surrender, kept him in custody for over two hours and then released him after he furnished the personal bond.

Siddiqui was booked in a case of July 2016 when he had led a demonstration, without taking prior permission, in Lucknow against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Daya Shankar Singh who had made derogatory comments against BSP President Mayawati.

The Special Court has been acting tough against a number of politicians for disregarding its directives.

The court had earlier issued a non-bailable warrant against Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya in a case of forgery registered against him.

In the case registered against Maurya and others at Mohabbatpur Painsa police station in Kaushambi district on September 22, 2008, it was alleged that he, along with the other accused, had formed a Maa Durga Committee, got a letterhead printed in its name and collected money from the public illegally.

The court also directed law enforcement agencies to arrest the then state Tourism Minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi. The court issued the order against Joshi as she had failed to appear before it in connection with a case of brick-batting and violation of the Model Code of Conduct registered in 2010.

Then a senior Congress leader, Joshi was accused of violating Section 144 and entering the Vidhan Sabha forcefully when the BSP was in power. She was also accused of misbehaving with the police force.

The court had also issued an arrest warrant against another minister in the Yogi Adityanath-led government, Swami Prasad Maurya, in a case of violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

The Special Court issued a warrant against the then BSP state chief Swami Prasad Maurya in a case of violation of the code of conduct registered against him on December 24, 2013, in Padrauna, in Kushinagar district. He was accused of distributing food and cash among voters on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Karpoori Thakur to woo the voters.

The speed with which the special MP-MLA court is taking action has left political leaders worried.

"It is somewhat unfair to issue non-bailable warrants in matters like violation of mode code. Most of the complaints are driven by political rivalry," said a minister.