A sessions court in Mumbai on Friday rejected the appeal filed by Amravati MP Navneet Rana’s father against a proclamation order issued by a magistrate.
A metropolitan magistrate court had last month issued the proclamation order against the lawmaker’s father Harbhajan Kundles for not appearing before it although multiple summonses were issued against him.
Rana and her father are accused of allegedly forging documents to obtain a caste certificate as the Amravati seat is reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates. Kundles had then filed a review petition before a sessions court here against the magistrate’s order.
After hearing both sides, additional sessions judge Santosh Kulkarni rejected Kundles’ plea, advocate Sachin Thorat, who represents the complainant in the case, said.
As per the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), a proclamation order is issued if any court has a reason to believe (whether after taking evidence or not) that any person against whom a warrant has been issued by it has absconded or is concealing himself so that such warrant cannot be executed.
Court may publish a written proclamation requiring him to appear at a specified place and time not less than 30 days from the date of publishing such proclamation.
As per the complaint lodged at Mulund police station in Mumbai, Rana and her father had allegedly forged documents to obtain a caste certificate as the Amravati Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra is reserved for SC candidates.
In 2021, the Bombay High Court had cancelled the caste certificate issued to Rana, saying it was obtained fraudulently using fabricated documents.
The father-daughter duo had challenged the high court’s order in the apex court.
