New Delhi: The Allahabad high court has suspended the two-year prison sentence awarded by a lower court to disqualified Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Vikram Saini in a 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots case and ordered to list the hearing for suspension of his conviction for today (November 21).
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.
Hindustan Times has reported a representative of the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly as having said that Saini, a former MLA from Khatauli in Muzaffarnagar, will remain disqualified as there is no stay order on his conviction.
The high court also granted bail to Saini 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 sought to establish 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.
In August 2013, Saini was the pradhan of Kawaal village where the first incident of violence relating to the Muzaffarnagar riots was reported form. The violence at Kawaal is believed to have triggered the conflagration in which 65 people were killed and around 60,000 Muslims were displaced.
On October 10 this year, a special MP/MLA court in Muzaffarnagar sentenced Saini and 10 others to two years’ imprisonment in another case relating to the same 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.
Saini is known for rabble rousing statements which often occupy headlines. After Article 370 was read down in August 2019, he said BJP workers were “excited” because they could marry “fair girls from Kashmir”.
In January 2019, Saini said those who do not feel safe in India “should be bombed”. In January 2018, he claimed that since India is called ‘Hindustan’, the country belongs to Hindus.