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The Print
21-05-2025
- Politics
- The Print
Curious case of convicted BJP MLA Kanwarlal Meena—denied SC relief, in jail, but yet to be disqualified
In the previous Lok Sabha, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as a member on 23 March 2023, just a day after his conviction and sentencing by a Gujarat court in a defamation case. Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan was disqualified as a member of the Uttar Pradesh assembly a day after an MP-MLA court in Rampur sentenced him to three years in jail in hate speech cases. Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People (RP) Act, 1951 provides for disqualification of a lawmaker if he or she is convicted for an offence that entails a minimum sentence of two years. New Delhi: Nearly three weeks after the Rajasthan High Court upheld his conviction and three-year prison sentence in a 2005 case—and two weeks after the Supreme Court denied him relief—BJP leader Kanwarlal Meena continues to be a member of the state assembly. The Congress has slammed this as a 'murder of the Constitution'. So, Kanwarlal Meena being able to keep his house membership despite 19 days since his conviction was upheld has raised eyebrows. A court in Aklera of Jhalawar district held Meena guilty of threatening a civil servant in 2005 and sentenced him to three years in jail in 2020. The decision was later upheld by the Rajasthan High Court 2 May. The BJP MLA moved the Supreme Court which directed him to surrender in trial court in two weeks. The deadline ended Wednesday. He has surrendered before a court. Meanwhile, he has also filed a review petition in the SC. While hearing Meena's Special Leave Petition 8 May, the Supreme Court observed, 'Elected representatives need to discipline themselves. This is one of rare cases where somebody has been convicted, otherwise you do everything and get away with it without any action against you.' The Rajasthan Congress moved Speaker Vasudev Devnani and Governor Haribhau Kisanrao Bagde seeking Meena's disqualification under the provisions of the RP Act, 1951. State Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra Monday resigned from one of the assembly standing committees in protest. A Congress delegation also met the governor Monday. 'There cannot be two sets of laws in one country,' Dotsra told ThePrint. 'Rahul Gandhi's membership was terminated within 24 hours and an MLA in Rajasthan has been sentenced to three years. The bench of three judges of the Supreme Court also did not give him relief. Yet, the Speaker has not disqualified him in 19 days.' He added: 'In the Lily Thomas case (2013), the Supreme Court said the day the punishment is passed, the membership will be cancelled immediately. Now, even after 19 days, why is Meena's membership not being terminated? The Speaker is sitting on the file and it is being moved here and there.' Dotasra claimed efforts are being made to pardon the MLA through the governor under Article 161. 'But rule 161 does not apply in the Meena case. The chief minister also went to the governor in this regard. The Supreme Court has also said the MLA will have to surrender in two weeks. Now two weeks have also been completed. They have made a mockery of law.' Also Read: In Rahul Gandhi's disqualification, Modi-Shah lay an electoral trap for Congress The 2005 case On February 3, 2005, Meena threatened then SDM Ram Niwas Mehta at gunpoint, pressuring him to recommend re-polling for the post of deputy sarpanch in the Khatakhedi village near Manohar Thana. Meena took out a revolver and asked Mehta to announce a repoll within two minutes. The SDM told Meena a revolver can kill but not enforce a repoll. While the trial court initially acquitted Meena, the additional district judge (ADJ) court in Aklera convicted him in 2020, imposing a three-year sentence and a fine of ₹3 lakh. Meena was in the news also in 2023 in connection with the abduction case of BJP MLA Lalit Meena allegedly at the behest of Vasundhara Raje's son Dushyant Singh, at a time when hectic political activities were going on in the state for picking a chief minister. Rahul to Azam: Leaders disqualified under RP Act Gandhi was found guilty of criminal defamation by a Surat court for his remark on PM Narendra Modi's surname at an election rally in 2019 and was sentenced to two years in jail 23 March 2023. He got bail and was given 30 days to appeal, but the court did not suspend his conviction. The Lok Sabha secretariat issued the Wayanad MP's disqualification notice 24 March. In a note issued 13 October 2015, the Election Commission asked state chief secretaries to direct departments concerned to ensure cases of convictions of sitting MPs or MLAs were brought to the notice of the speaker or the house chairperson. More than a dozen lawmakers have been disqualified under the act since 2013 when the Supreme Court struck down relief under section 8(4) of RP Act which gave convicted MPs and MLA three months time to appeal and save their memberships. Senior leaders like Lalu Prasad (fodder scam), the late Jayalalithaa (disproportionate assets case) and NCP MP Mohd Faizal (attempt to murder case) were among the lawmakers disqualified under the act. Gandhi and Faizal's suspensions were later revoked. 'No provision in Constitution about time-frame' Sources close to Meena told ThePrint he surrendered Wednesday per the Supreme Court deadline. 'Now the ball is in the court of the governor and the court. There is no provision in Constitution about time-frame when the Speaker will act.' Meena's aides also denied the MLA has requested the governor to grant him pardon. They claimed the MLA was waiting for the Supreme Court's decision. Rajasthan BJP spokesperson Laxmikant Bhardwaj said the issue of disqualification is between the speaker and the MLA concerned. 'And the speaker has to make a decision on his disqualification. Maybe the MLA is exploring his last legal options.' Sources close to Speaker Vasudev Devnani told ThePrint, 'The speaker has consulted legal minds and is waiting for the Supreme Court decision on this matter. This has delayed the decision.' But Congress spokesperson Swarnim Chaturvedi asked, 'Why is he being given so much time to explore legal options? Why was he not disqualified immediately? Why is the Speaker waiting for his Supreme Court review petition? It's a murder of the Constitution. There can't be separate laws for BJP leaders and opposition leaders.' (Edited by Ajeet Tiwari) Also Read: 'Should have been more careful' — Surat court order rejecting Rahul Gandhi's plea for stay on conviction
Indian Express
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
In eye of storm over revolver case, Rajasthan BJP MLA – Raje loyalist to disqualification
Rajasthan BJP MLA Kanwarlal Meena is set to be disqualified from the Assembly after the Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed his petition challenging the state High Court's May 2 order, which upheld his three-year conviction by a lower court and directed him to surrender 'immediately' in a 2005 case for threatening a Rajasthan Administrative Service (RAS) officer with a revolver. The apex court's order effectively means that Meena would lose his membership of the state Assembly. As per Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People (RP) Act, 1951, the conviction of a lawmaker for an offence with a two-year sentence or more leads to his / her disqualification from the House. Rajasthan Assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani said he is taking the opinion of the Advocate General and other senior lawyers on the issue of Meena's disqualification, adding that a decision on the same will be taken 'soon, as per the rules, and within the time limit'. While not the first instance in Rajasthan, this would be one of the rare cases for a sitting MLA to be disqualified in the state. The last such instance happened in December 2016, when the then Assembly Speaker Kailash Meghwal had terminated the Assembly membership of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA B L Kushwah after he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in an 'honour' killing matter. For Meena, it might put a pause on his direct involvement in electoral politics – a legislator being disqualified under the RP Act cannot contest for six years after the date of completion of his sentence. However, like Kushwah, who had fielded his wife after his disqualification, it may not be the end of the road for Meena. A two-time MLA, Meena, 50, currently represents the Anta constituency in Baran district. During the hearing in the top court, senior advocate and former Orissa High Court chief justice S Muralidhar pointed out that Meena 'has 27 cases against him, of which 15 were even before the said incident' and that 'after this case, 12 more cases were filed'. He called the attacks on public servants Meena's 'specialisation'. The revolver case pertains to February 2005, when Ramniwas Mehta, then a RAS officer posted as the Sub Divisional Officer in Aklera, was informed of a group of people in Manohar Thana, Jhalawar, blocking the road to demand repolling in an up-sarpanch election. When Mehta and others reached the spot, Meena, who arrived with 6-7 men in a vehicle about half an hour later, took out a revolver and aimed it at Mehta's head asking him to 'announce a repoll within two minutes or get killed'. Mehta, as per records, told Meena that 'a revolver can kill but not enforce a repoll'. Mehta, later promoted as an IAS officer, is currently posted as the Secretary, Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC). In January 2016, Meena and his men, armed with sticks, had allegedly attacked several social activists and their vehicles in Jhalawar. The activists of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), an NGO founded by Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey, were taking out a 'Jawabdehi Yatra' (accountability march) across the then chief minister Vasundhara Raje's home turf Jhalawar. Meena, then BJP MLA from Manohar Thana in Jhalawar district, and his men were accused of publicly molesting, manhandling, abusing, and beating up women activists. The MLA himself was accused of groping and slapping the women. It was also alleged that he was backed by then CM Raje. Roy and Dey had charged that then home minister Gulab Chand Kataria told them that he was unable to act against Meena since his 'file' had been 'stopped' by Raje, even as Kataria denied their claim. In this matter, an FIR was lodged against Meena under various sections including rioting, wrongful restraint, voluntarily causing grievous hurt, and assault or criminal force against a woman with intent to outrage her modesty. However, he was acquitted by the trial court and later by the ADJ court. An MKSS activist, Mukesh Goswami said they are, however, still pursuing the case in the high court. While giving its order Wednesday, the apex court, in oral remarks, said: 'Elected representatives need to discipline themselves…this is one of those rare cases where somebody has been convicted otherwise you do everything and anything and get away with it, without any action against you.' Mukesh said, 'Such people who have a criminal mindset should not be given a ticket by any party. During elections too, we had written to BJP president J P Nadda and requested him to not give a ticket to Kanwarlal Meena.' A strongman, Meena has kept a relatively low profile beyond his area of influence. He was first elected from Manohar Thana on the BJP ticket in 2013, defeating the Congress's Kailash Chand with a 20% vote margin. Meena won the 2023 polls from the Anta seat, about three hours' drive from Manohar Thana. After his election, he was in the news again. As the wait for the naming of a new CM by the BJP leadership continued following the party's victory in the polls in December 2023, Hemraj Meena, father of Kishanganj BJP MLA Lalit Meena, alleged that his son was taken to a resort on the outskirts of Jaipur and sequestered there by Raje's son Dushyant Singh, an MP, even as the Raje camp called the entire matter a 'conspiracy'. Hemraj had alleged that Lalit was among five MLAs at the resort from Jhalawar and Baran districts and that Kanwarlal Meena played the 'main role' in this episode. He also alleged that it was Meena who had stopped him and 'was ready for a brawl', adding that 'Kanwarlal was saying, talk to Dushyant Singh before you can take him away. I called Dushyant but he did not answer the call'. However, talking to The Indian Express then, Meena had dismissed it as a 'plot to malign Dushyant Singh's name'.
Indian Express
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Supreme Court dismisses Rajasthan BJP MLA's petition in 2005 revolver threat case
The Supreme Court Wednesday dismissed Rajasthan BJP MLA Kanwarlal Meena's petition challenging the High Court order which had directed him to surrender 'immediately' in a 2005 case for threatening a Rajasthan Administrative Service (RAS) officer with a revolver. Dismissing the MLA's petition and granting him two weeks' time to surrender, a Bench of Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Sandeep Mehta said: 'We are not inclined to interfere with the impugned judgment and order.' The SC said that if Meena, the BJP MLA from Anta in Baran district, doesn't surrender by then, 'the state will be at liberty to take all such measures to take him into custody to serve out the remaining sentence.' The SC dismissing Meena's petition effectively means that Meena is set to lose his MLA status. As per Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People (RP) Act of 1951, conviction of a lawmaker for an offence with a two-year sentence or more leads to disqualification from the House. In oral remarks, the SC, while criticising the public representatives for treating public servants 'like dirt', said: 'Elected representatives need to discipline themselves…this is one of those rare cases where somebody has been convicted otherwise you do everything and anything and get away with it, without any action against you.' Meena's lawyer Namit Saxena argued that he did not commit any crime and that the facts of the case were 'exaggerated.' The case pertains to February 2005, when Ramniwas Mehta, then a RAS officer and posted as Sub Divisional Officer, Aklera, was informed of a group of people in Manohar Thana, Jhalawar, blocking the road to demand re-poll in a sarpanch election. When Mehta and others reached the spot, Meena, who arrived with 6-7 men in a vehicle about half an hour later, took out a revolver and allegedly aimed it at Mehta's head asking him to 'announce a re-poll within two minutes or get killed'. Mehta, as per records, told Meena that, 'a revolver can kill but not enforce a re-poll.' On Wednesday, Meena's lawyer Namit Saxena said: 'There was no recovery of the revolver. The allegation is that he took out the videographer's cassette and broke it and burnt it. There is no videography camera recovered, no CD or cassette recovered, and no public property which was recovered for the purpose of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act.' Appearing for the respondent, senior advocate S Murlidhar pointed out that Meena 'has 27 cases against him, of which 15 were even before the said incident. After this case, 12 more cases were filed.' He said that after this case, five more cases of attacks on public servants were lodged against Meena, terming this as Meena's 'specialization.' Meena, a two-term BJP legislator, had initially been acquitted by a trial court but was later convicted by an appellate court in December 2020. He had then filed a criminal revision petition in the HC against his appellate court conviction which found him guilty under IPC Sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant), 506 (criminal intimidation), and the PDPP Act. He was sentenced to three years' rigorous imprisonment for the last two charges and two years for IPC 353, to be served concurrently. On May 2, the Rajasthan HC upheld Meena's 2020 conviction and sentence handed down by the appellate court, and directed him to surrender immediately in the case. Then on May 5, a single bench of the SC stayed a part of the HC order and the case was on Wednesday put up before a larger bench. On May 5, Leader of Opposition Tika Ram Jully had led a delegation, which included Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasra, Deputy LoP Ramkesh Meena, Chief Whip Rafeek Khan, among others, to Assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani, submitting a letter to an official in Devnani's absence. In his letter, Jully cited Section 8(3) of the RP Act, demanding Meena's disqualification, while adding that such a person cannot contest for six years after the date of completion of his sentence. Attaching a copy of the HC order, Jully said that it is important to cancel his membership 'to maintain the dignity and the democratic values of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly.' Meena first won election from Manohar Thana in 2013 and from Anta in 2023. Meanwhile, Mehta is now an IAS officer and serves as Secretary, Rajasthan Public Service Commission, Ajmer.
Indian Express
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
SC dismisses Rajasthan BJP MLA's petition in 2005 revolver threat case
The Supreme Court Wednesday dismissed Rajasthan BJP MLA Kanwarlal Meena's petition challenging the High Court order which had directed him to surrender 'immediately' in a 2005 case for threatening a Rajasthan Administrative Service (RAS) officer with a revolver. Dismissing the MLA's petition and granting him two weeks' time to surrender, a Bench of Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Sandeep Mehta said: 'We are not inclined to interfere with the impugned judgment and order.' The SC said that if Meena, the BJP MLA from Anta in Baran district, doesn't surrender by then, 'the state will be at liberty to take all such measures to take him into custody to serve out the remaining sentence.' The SC dismissing Meena's petition effectively means that Meena is set to lose his MLA status. As per Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People (RP) Act of 1951, conviction of a lawmaker for an offence with a two-year sentence or more leads to disqualification from the House. In oral remarks, the SC, while criticising the public representatives for treating public servants 'like dirt', said: 'Elected representatives need to discipline themselves…this is one of those rare cases where somebody has been convicted otherwise you do everything and anything and get away with it, without any action against you.' Meena's lawyer Namit Saxena argued that he did not commit any crime and that the facts of the case were 'exaggerated.' The case pertains to February 2005, when Ramniwas Mehta, then a RAS officer and posted as Sub Divisional Officer, Aklera, was informed of a group of people in Manohar Thana, Jhalawar, blocking the road to demand re-poll in a sarpanch election. When Mehta and others reached the spot, Meena, who arrived with 6-7 men in a vehicle about half an hour later, took out a revolver and allegedly aimed it at Mehta's head asking him to 'announce a re-poll within two minutes or get killed'. Mehta, as per records, told Meena that, 'a revolver can kill but not enforce a re-poll.' On Wednesday, Meena's lawyer Namit Saxena said: 'There was no recovery of the revolver. The allegation is that he took out the videographer's cassette and broke it and burnt it. There is no videography camera recovered, no CD or cassette recovered, and no public property which was recovered for the purpose of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act.' Appearing for the respondent, senior advocate S Murlidhar pointed out that Meena 'has 27 cases against him, of which 15 were even before the said incident. After this case, 12 more cases were filed.' He said that after this case, five more cases of attacks on public servants were lodged against Meena, terming this as Meena's 'specialization.' Meena, a two-term BJP legislator, had initially been acquitted by a trial court but was later convicted by an appellate court in December 2020. He had then filed a criminal revision petition in the HC against his appellate court conviction which found him guilty under IPC Sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant), 506 (criminal intimidation), and the PDPP Act. He was sentenced to three years' rigorous imprisonment for the last two charges and two years for IPC 353, to be served concurrently. On May 2, the Rajasthan HC had directed Meena to surrender immediately in this case. The HC upheld his 2020 conviction and sentence handed down by the appellate court. Then on May 5, a single bench of the SC stayed the part of the HC order and the case was on Wednesday put up before a larger bench. On May 5, Leader of Opposition Tika Ram Jully had led a delegation, which included Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasra, Deputy LoP Ramkesh Meena, Chief Whip Rafeek Khan, among others, to Assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani, submitting a letter to an official in Devnani's absence. In his letter, Jully cited Section 8(3) of the RP Act, demanding Meena's disqualification, while adding that such a person cannot contest for six years after the date of completion of his sentence. Attaching a copy of the HC order, Jully said that it is important to cancel his membership 'to maintain the dignity and the democratic values of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly.' Meena first won election from Manohar Thana in 2013 and from Anta in 2023. Meanwhile, Mehta is now an IAS officer and serves as Secretary, Rajasthan Public Service Commission, Ajmer.
New Indian Express
23-04-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Karnataka HC rejects plea against Siddaramaiah's election from Varuna
BENGALURU: Stating that there is no averment in the petition as to how the 'five guarantees' have materially affected the result of the election, the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday rejected the petition filed by a voter of Varuna assembly constituency, questioning Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's election as MLA in 2023. 'If the assertion of 'guarantees' was grounds to set aside the election, the question of invoking the same to declare an election to be void would require an act by the returned candidate. Admittedly, the 'guarantees' flow from a promise made in the manifesto of the party, and cannot be attributed to the candidate, and accordingly, the question of invoking Section 100(1)(d)(iv) of the RP Act in the present case does not arise, to declare the candidate is not qualified to be chosen from Varuna assembly constituency,' said Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav, rejecting the election petition. 'The plaint is liable to be rejected both on the ground of 'want of cause of action' as well as being barred by law,' the court said, allowing an interlocutory application filed by Siddaramaiah against the petition. The petitioner, K Shankara from Koodanahalli in Mysuru district, questioned the election of Siddaramaiah as MLA, mainly on the grounds that the five guarantees are construed as corrupt practices amounting to bribery and undue influence in terms of Section 123(2) of the Representation of the People (RP) Act. The court noted that the 'guarantees', which are promises of freebies, cannot be considered to constitute a corrupt practice under Section 123 of the RP Act in the light of the law laid down by the apex court in the S Subramaniam Balaji case. Even the petitioner's contention that Siddaramaiah had affixed his signature to the handout and thus adopted the manifesto as his own, is required to be rejected as the handout is an appeal by the party to vote for its candidate. The affixing of signature on the handout is 'only in the capacity of a CLP (Congress Legislative Party) leader and not more', the court said.
