Legal Correspondent :
BJP MLA granted relief in election code of conduct violation
case. MP-MLA court orders. He
was accused of announcing the
installation of five hand pumps
at a street corner meeting. The
MP-MLA court of Special Judicial
Magistrate DP Sutrakar has
granted relief to BJP MLA Kunwar
Singh from Dhauni, District
Sidhi, in the election code of conduct violation case.The court clarified in its order
that the prosecution failed to
prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Consequently, the
accused Kunwar Singh, the current MLA, is acquitted of the
charges. During the hearing, MLA
Kunwar Singh was represented
by Advocate Vikas Mishra. He
argued that the case was motivated by malice and therefore
deserves to be dismissed.
The prosecution argued that
on April 26, 2019, Neeraj Kumar,
a peon at the Tehsil Office,
Manjhauli, submitted a complaint to the Assistant Returning
Officer alleging that MLA Kunwar
Singh had announced the installation of five hand pumps at a
street corner meeting in
Dhanauli Gram Panchayat.
This
behavior falls within the ambit
of the Model Code of Conduct.
Without verifying the veracity of
the allegations, the responsible
officials registered a First
Information Report and initiated the investigation.
During this period, VST incharge Dilip Kumar, Revenue
Inspector, Manjhauli, was questioned and his statement recorded. He stated that he was covering the public meeting on the
instructions of the Election
Officer. During this time, the battery of the official camera ran out.
Therefore, a video was recorded
using his personal mobile phone.
A CD was made and submitted
to the Election Office. However,
when the mobile phone was later requisitioned for forensic
examination, it was discovered
that it had been discarded due
to damage. Consequently, forensic examination could not be
conducted.
Thus, evidence to verify the
authenticity of the video CD was
missing. Therefore, the District
Prosecution Officer was requested for an opinion. He declared
the case worthy of closure. Based
on this, senior police officers
granted permission to submit a
closure application to the court.