A special court on Thursday rejected a plea by the Uttar Pradesh government to withdraw a case filed against BJP MLA Umesh Malik, citing the Supreme Court's order that no prosecution against an MP or an MLA would be withdrawn without the permission of the high courts.
Umesh Malik, the MLA from Budhana, surrendered in the court on Thursday and sought recall of the non-bailable warrant issued against him.
Police had registered a case against several people, including the MLA, under IPC sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) and 149 (unlawful assembly), among others following a demonstration outside a meat factory on the Jansath road in the district in 2006.
On the basis of the top court's order, judge Gopal Upadhyay rejected the UP government's application to withdraw the case filed against Umesh Malik.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had ordered that state prosecutors cannot withdraw prosecution against the lawmakers under Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) without prior sanction from high courts.
The top court's order assumed significance in view of the fact, highlighted by an amicus curiae on the basis of news reports, that states like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Karnataka have sought to withdraw criminal cases against politicians by using section 321 of the CrPC which empowers prosecutors to withdraw cases.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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