BJP MP Katheria's Conviction Halted: Court Suspends Penalty Amid Membership Disqualification Risk

Lucknow: Facing the danger of losing his parliamentary membership after being convicted to a two-year jail term, Ram Shankar Katheria, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, has received relief from the district court.

The Agra district court, on Monday, halted Katheria's conviction and set September 11 as the next hearing date for the case. The court has also suspended the ₹50,000 penalty imposed on the BJP MP by the MP/MLA court of Agra.

An MP/MLA court had sentenced Katheria to two years of imprisonment and a ₹50,000 penalty in a 12-year-old case of brawl and assault. However, he was granted bail immediately after the conviction by the same court.

2011 case against Ram Shankar Katheria:

The MP/MLA court of Agra found the BJP MP guilty of brawl and assault on an official of Torrent Power Limited in 2011. The incident occurred in Agra on November 16, 2011, in the afternoon when Katheria had visited the Torrent office along with dozens of his supporters to pursue a case of power theft. During the discussion with Torrent officials, Katheria assaulted its manager, Bhavesh Rasik Lal Shah. He was an MP from Agra at that time.

Torrent manager Shah had lodged an FIR at the Hari Parbat police station in Agra against the BJP MP and his supporters. The police had filed a case against the BJP MP under sections 147 and 323 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

After the two-year imprisonment conviction, Katheria's parliamentary membership was in danger. The opposition, including the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, had demanded the disqualification of Katheria from the parliament. Katheria has been elected as an MP from Agra twice and was a Union Minister of State in the previous Modi Government. Currently, he holds the position of Member of Parliament from the Etawah parliamentary constituency."