Uttar Pradesh BJP MP Ram Katheria gets 2-year jail term in 2011 assault case

Katheria is the former chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes.

The MP said after the judgment was delivered, “I will challenge the verdict in a higher court. The charges against me are politically motivated, as a majority of witnesses have testified that I was not present at the place mentioned in the police chargesheet. The Bahujan Samaj Party government was in power in Uttar Pradesh when the case was registered. A number of fabricated cases were being lodged against me at that time and this was one among them.”

In its judgment, the special MP/MLA court in Agra said Katheria has been convicted in the case under IPC sections 147(rioting) and 323(voluntarily causing hurt) and is sentenced to an rigorous imprisonment for a term of two years and a fine of Rs 50,000 was also imposed on him.The sentence would be extended by three more months if the accused does not deposit the fine, said the court.

“My client is innocent. We are ready to take the case to a higher court and will continue our legal efforts till he is proven not guilty,” said Devendra Singh, the MP’s lawyer. The prosecution lawyer B M Kushwaha claimed that the case was “crystal clear” from day one .”We are surprised why it (case) dragged on over so many years,” said Kushwaha.

Katheria has earlier served as MP from Agra twice. The party fielded him in Etawah ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and he won for the third successive time since 2009.

According to the FIR registered on November 16 at the Hari Parwat police station in Agra by Samedhi Lal, the then security superintendent of Torrent Power in Agra, “Katheria, along with 10-15 unidentified supporters, barged into the office of the then manager Bhavesh Rasik Lal Shah and assaulted him in his office room. Katheria and his supporters entered the Torrent premises around 12:15 pm on November 16, 2011, and asked for the manager. He was told that the manager was busy in a meeting.”

“The MP and his supporters, however, barged into Rasik Lal Shah’s room where he was holding a meeting in connection with power theft in the district. He slapped the manager while his supporters hit him with lathis,’ claimed the complainant.

“I was the MP from Agra that time when a woman who earned her livelihood by ironing clothes came to me in November, 2011. She told me that she got an inflated electricity bill. Moved by her poor economic status, I assured her that I will ensure justice is delivered to her. I talked to Torrent Power officials on the issue and they assured me that they would resolve the matter. However, nearly eight days later, the woman came back to me and said the issue was not settled yet. I then went to the office and they resolved the issue,” Katheria told mediapersons after the verdict.