- Senior Congress leader Pradeep Jain Aditya and 13 others sentenced to two years jail for 2013 road blockade
- Fourteen convicts, including Mr Jain, were released on personal bond and given a month to appeal
- The 2013 protest blocked the Jhansi-Kanpur highway near Parichha Thermal Power Plant
A court on Friday sentenced senior Congress leader and former Union minister of state Pradeep Jain Aditya and 13 others to two years' imprisonment in connection with a 2013 road blockade held to protest power cuts, a case lawyer said.
However, all of them were released on a personal bond and granted a month to appeal the verdict, he said.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM-I) and Special MP-MLA Court Judge Anil Kumar Saptam convicted Mr Jain and others under various sections of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code and the Criminal Law Amendment Act, a case lawyer said.
He said the case pertains to a June 11, 2013, protest by the Congress near Parichha Thermal Power Plant over electricity issues, where party workers allegedly blocked the Jhansi-Kanpur highway at the call of Mr Jain, causing a massive traffic jam.
All convicts were released on a personal bond. They have been granted a month's time to appeal against the verdict, he added.
Mr Jain appeared emotional after the sentencing and told reporters that he would continue to fight for the issues of Bundelkhand residents. He expressed pain that his workers were also punished.
His counsel Vivek Bajpai said they would challenge the judgement, citing investigation irregularities.
Besides Mr Jain, those convicted are Rajneesh Srivastava, Naved Khan, Rahul Rai, Sher Khan, Sohail Khan, Saurabh Jain, Naresh Belhatiya, Rahul Gupta, Shadab Ahmad, Manoj Kumar, Virendra Singh, Harish Kapoor and Salman Ahmad.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
