Relief to Naqvi: Court sets aside jail term

In a relief to Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the District and Sessions Court here on Saturday set aside a magisterial court verdict awarding the BJP leader one-year jail term for allegedly violating prohibitory orders during the 2009 general elections.

The Minister of State for Minority Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs was on January 14 held guilty under IPC sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 342 (wrongful confinement), Section 7 of Criminal Law Amendment Act and Section 144 of CrPC.

The case was related to a demonstration by BJP workers led by Naqvi outside a police station at Patwai area of Rampur parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh at the time of campaigning for the 2009 Lok Sabha polls during which they allegedly breached prohibitory orders.

57-year-old Naqvi had later got bail in the case in which eighteen others were also convicted.The District Judge on Saturday accepted the appeal of the Union Minister who was present in the court for the case.