An MP/MLA court in Uttar Pradesh has issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and five other individuals on Tuesday. The court action follows their non-compliance with a surrender order stemming from a two-decade-old protest case.
On August 6, the court upheld a 45-day jail sentence for Singh, alongside SP national spokesperson and former MLA Anoop Sanda, for their roles in a road blockade incident during a protest in 2001. The court had ordered them to surrender by August 9. Despite the directive, Singh failed to appear in court, citing commitments to ongoing Parliament proceedings. A hearing scheduled for August 12 was postponed due to the presiding judge’s absence.
Special Magistrate Shubham Verma of the MP/MLA court subsequently issued the NBWs on Tuesday when the convicts did not appear to surrender. Sanjay Singh’s legal representative, Advocate Madan Singh, confirmed the issuance of the warrants.
The protest in question took place on June 19, 2001, where Anoop Sanda, then a leader of the Democratic Socialist Party, and Singh, along with supporters, obstructed traffic near a local flyover to voice grievances over power distribution issues.
Originally, Special Court Magistrate Yogesh Yadav convicted the involved parties on January 11, 2023, assigning a 45-day imprisonment term and levying a fine of Rs 1,500 each. Subsequently, an appeal by Singh and Sanda was dismissed last week by Special Sessions Judge Ekta Verma.
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The case proceedings are set to continue with the next hearing scheduled for August 20. Sanjay Singh, a founding member of AAP and originally from Sultanpur district, has previously been associated with the Democratic Socialist Party before joining AAP in 2012.
