Lucknow: Ram Shankar Katheria, a three-time MP from Uttar Pradesh and BJP’s Dalit face, was sentenced to two-year imprisonment Saturday in connection with a case of assault and rioting going back to 2011.
“A public representative should have a clean image,” an Agra court asserted while pronouncing the sentence to the BJP’s Etawah MP Saturday. It also imposed a fine of
Rs 50,000.
On Saturday, the MP/MLA court noted that Katheria had been convicted after 12 years due to his influences and because he represented a big parliamentary constituency, and pointed to the lacunae in the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
“It cannot be ignored that a public representative should have a clean image and that the convict cannot take refuge in the fact that he represents a big parliamentary constituency and that he should be treated with a soft approach,” the court observed.
It underlined the “fact that the innocent public of our country sends a person with faulty conduct to Parliament” and pointed out that “a public representative has more responsibility and that he should always be a role model for the people of his area with his conduct and behaviour”.
“Moreover, as an MP, the convict remains important (in) the process of (lawmaking) in the country. Hence, a lawmaker is expected to always be a follower of law and legality.”
“Keeping in view all the circumstances of the case, it has been concluded that misusing his influence, the convict has beaten up an electricity supply department employee along with an illegal gathering. Hence, the court considers that as per law, the accused should be convicted and handed over the maximum punishment,” the court noted in the 26-page order which ThePrint has accessed.
The Congress Sunday sought Katheria’s immediate disqualification as Lok Sabha MP from Etawah, claiming that his offence was graver than what party leader Rahul Gandhi was accused of and subsequently disqualified for from Parliament.
“Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as an MP within 24 hours (after a Surat court convicted him in a 2019 defamation case). It will now be seen that if Katheria’s membership is revoked or not. Let’s see how impartially the Lok Sabha Speaker works,” senior leader Digvijay Singh told the media.
Katheria was Agra MP for two consecutive terms from 2009 to 2019 and during his second term, he was appointed Union minister of state for human resources development, now called the education ministry. Later, he was made chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Katheria was shifted to Etawah by the BJP high command, from where he was elected by a huge margin. He is known to have courted a number of controversies in his political career.
Katheria’s lawyer Devendra Singh told ThePrint that an appeal has been filed in the sessions court on Monday and that they are expecting a hearing soon.
On Saturday, Katheria told the media that the case against him was filed under the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) rule in Uttar Pradesh (2007 to 2012), adding that “several politically-motivated cases were lodged against him”.
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Case against Katheria
Katheria has been convicted for assaulting an official of power distribution firm Torrent Power in 2011 during a protest against the company at its office in Agra’s Saket Mall, and for vandalising its office. He was then the MP from Agra.
He has been sentenced for two years under Section 147 (rioting) of the Indian Penal Code. Under Section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), he has been awarded a year’s imprisonment. The sentences are to run parallelly.
The court found him guilty of barging into the office of B.R. Shah, assessing officer (electricity theft), on 16 November, 2011, along with 10-15 supporters while Shah was hearing cases pertaining to electricity theft, and assaulting him in a way that led to serious injuries.
It was alleged that the incident was “pre-planned”. An FIR was lodged against Katheria and his supporters at Hariparvat police station under Sections 147 and 323 of IPC.
In his testimony, Shah stated that he was assessing an electricity bill pertaining to a washerman when his family members along with Katheria and his supporters arrived at his office and one of them slapped him, asking why the bill was so high.
In its order, the court noted that Katheria’s lawyer sought that the accused be released on review saying that “he had been making rounds of the court for a long time” and pleaded for minimum punishment pointing out that he had been an MP in the past and was presently the MP from Etawah.
The prosecution, on the other hand, sought maximum punishment for the accused noting that “he is a person with influence over a lot of people and an example should be set for society by handing over maximum punishment to him as his act induces mistrust among the public towards a public servant”.
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Dalit face & RSS pracharak
Katheria is a key Dalit face for the BJP, which has poached several leaders from the BSP over the past two decades.
He started his political career as a pracharak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Etawah — a pocket-borough of the Mulayam Singh Yadav family which runs Samajwadi Party.
He rose to the position of Agra district general secretary and became the district president of the BJP’s Agra unit in 2007.
In 2014, Katheria was inducted into the Modi government as MoS, a move that was widely seen as part of the BJP’s Dalit outreach. He served in the position till July 2016. He was also made the national general secretary in-charge of the BJP in Punjab and Chhattisgarh.
Katheria was denied a ticket from his stronghold of Agra in 2019 and shifted to Etawah. Current MoS (health and family welfare) S.P. Baghel was given a ticket from Agra, leading to unease within the Katheria camp.
Baghel and Katheria reportedly share an uneasy relationship and have publicly targeted each other in the past. The denial of ticket to Katheria also led to speculation that his many controversies may have ruined his chances from Agra.
‘Hate speech’ & other rows
In March 2016, when Katheria was the MoS, he invited severe criticism from the opposition, including demands for his sacking, for delivering a “hate speech” at a condolence meeting held for Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Arun Mahaur, who was shot dead in Agra.
“This conspiracy that is being hatched against the Hindu community, we have to be alert to recognise it and strengthen ourselves,” Katheria said reportedly at the gathering, where objectionable references to the Muslims were also alleged to have been made.
While an FIR was reportedly lodged against a local BJP corporator and three others for the speech, senior leaders Katheria and Babulal Chaudhary were not booked.
The speech was followed by announcements of an asthi kalash yatra by members of the Kori caste and calls from the VHP to take the “battle to the people”.
Then in June 2016, Katheria was reported to have told a gathering at Lucknow university that “saffronisation and Sanghvaad of education would definitely happen if it was good for the country”. This too drew sharp reactions from opposition leaders.
In August 2016, the Agra police received a complaint from Katheria’s wife about their pet dog going missing. According to media reports, she told the police that if they could find the buffaloes of politician Azam Khan, they could also find her dog.
In March 2019, speaking at a poll rally ahead of the general election, Katheria had referred to the BJP and said “we are in power in the state (UP) and at the Centre. We will break any fingers that are pointed at us now”.
The MP, in an affidavit submitted to the Election Commission in 2019, stated that he had 12 cases lodged against him between 2009 and 2013.
In 2016, the Akhilesh Yadav-led government withdrew five cases lodged against Katheria, including one for allegedly leading a mob to block the National Highway-2 in February 2010.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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