AAP Rajya Sabha Member Granted Protection
In a relief to Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh, the Supreme Court on Tuesday granted him protection against arrest in all FIRs registered against him in Uttar Pradesh.
The Supreme Court issued the notice on his plea for clubbing of all FIRs. Singh has cited eight FIRs filed in Lucknow, Sant Kabir Nagar, Khiri, Bagpat, Muzaffarnagar, Basti and Aligarh etc.
His lawyer Vivek Tankha contended before a bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan that since Singh was a Rajya Sabha member, the permission for his prosecution should have been given by the Chair of the Upper House. Tankha said that identical FIRs have been filed against the AAP leader at dozen places.
The top court noted that the UP government could approach the Rajya Sabha Chairman for prosecution sanction.
After a brief hearing, the bench directed that Singh should not be arrested in the criminal cases registered against him and adjourned the matter for further hearing in the third week of March.
On February 2, Singh failed to get immediate relief from the Supreme Court in a matter pertaining to a non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued in a case lodged in Lucknow after his press conference on August 12 last year, wherein he alleged that the state government was favoring a certain section of society.
Singh has moved the top court to seek quashing of FIRs lodged against him in different districts of UP after his press conference, and claimed that these cases were a result of “political vendetta”.
In his plea, the Rajya Sabha member said that he had merely highlighted certain social issues and the alleged apathy of the state government against a certain section of society.
In a separate plea, the AAP leader also challenged the January 21 order of the Allahabad High Court to decline to quash the FIR in Lucknow. The top court had then refused to pass any order without examining the High Court order and asked Singh’s counsel to bring on record the order copy.
Singh’s counsel had requested the bench that he should be protected in the backdrop of the NBW against him. The bench had replied that Singh can seek exemption before the trial court and also declined to issue any notice at this stage.