Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh): The Allahabad High Court has suspended the two-year prison sentence awarded by a lower court to disqualified BJP MLA Vikram Saini in a 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots case and ordered to list the hearing for suspension of his conviction for Monday.
The high court also granted bail to Saini, a former MLA from Khatauli in Muzaffarnagar, in the same case. The high court was hearing an appeal by Saini challenging his conviction by a special court. On Thursday, hearing the appeal by Saini, Justice Samit Gopal said, Prayer for bail/sentence is allowed.
Counsel for Saini submitted in the high court that there is no credible evidence against him and there is no witness to support the prosecution case. Further, it is a case of no injury, the counsel said. On October 10 this year, a special MP/MLA court in Muzaffarnagar had sentenced Saini and 10 others to two years' imprisonment in a case relating to 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots.
In the present order, the high court directed Saini's release on bail on his furnishing a personal bond with two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned. Nearly a month after Saini's conviction in the Muzaffarnagar riots case, the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly on November 13 disqualified him as MLA and also declared as vacant his Khatauli seat, for which a bypoll is scheduled on December 5. (PTI)
