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The Allahabad High Court recently suspended the conviction and sentence of Samajwadi Party leader Ankit Parihar in a 2017 case. With this hitch having been removed, Parihar is all set to contest the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly Polls, 2022 from Unnao's Bhagwantnagar seat.

A bench of Justice Subhash Vidyarthi passed this order on an application filed by all four convicts in the case seeking suspension of their conviction. However, court denied the relief to Annu Tandon, another SP Leader, Suryan Narayan Yadav, and Amit Shukla.

Court noted that the other three had not come up with any specific consequence which they are likely to face due to their conviction whereas Parihar had specifically pleaded for his release stating he is aspiring to contest the upcoming Assembly elections which are scheduled in February.

Therefore, court stayed the lower court's order up to the extent of Parihar's conviction and sentencing. Court said, 

"Keeping in view the entire facts ad circumstances of the case in light of the law laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, the case of the appellant no. 4 (Parihar) appears to be an exceptional case warranting exercise of powers conferred on this Court under Section 389 (1) Cr.P.C."

Court reasoned that "it is clear that unless the conviction and sentence of the appellant no. 4 (Parihar) is stayed, he will not be able to contest the election as he will be disqualified under Section 8 (3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and he would suffer irreparable loss and injury."

Court also noted, "As the appellants no. 1, 2 and 3 (Tondon and others) have not come up with any specific consequence which they are likely to face due to their conviction, their prayer for suspension of conviction and sentence appears to be barred by the law laid down by the Apex Court in the case of Rama Narang vs. Ramesh Narang (1995)."

To be noted, Parihar had earlier contested the Legislative Assembly elections in the year 2012 and 2017 and Annu Tondon is a former Member of Lok Sabha holding the office from 2009 to 2014.

Backdrop of the case

Proceedings against the four were initiated in June 2017 when the Railway Protection personnel had lodged a report alleging that during a demonstration led by Annu Todon around 150 to 200 persons had obstructed one train from entering the Unnao Railway station which had caused a delay of 12 minutes. This act is covered by Section 174 (a) of the Railways Act, 1989.

As a result, a case was registered and Tondon along with Parihar and others was convicted on March 18, 2021 for the offence of obstructing running of train, and punishment of two years simple imprisonment was imposed on all four. 

Case Title: Annu Tondon and 3 Ors. v. State Through Railway Protection Force