The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on Thursday suspended the three-month sentence awarded to Maharashtra cabinet minister Yashomati Thakur for allegedly assaulting a policeman in Amravati district in 2012.
A sessions court in Amravati on October 15 convicted Ms Thakur, who is the state’s women and child development minister, and three others including her driver, in the case and sentenced them to three months imprisonment.
Yashomati Thakur, a Congress leader, earlier this week filed an appeal in the high court against the conviction and sought suspension of the sentence by way of interim relief, pending final hearing of her plea.
The plea also sought for the conviction to be stayed.
“Bare perusal of the evidence of the witnesses clearly shows that the sessions court committed an error by convicting the appellant (Thakur). There is no case made out for conviction,” the minister”s advocates Subodh Dharmadhikari and Aniket Nikam argued.
Justice Vinay Joshi on Thursday admitted the appeal and suspended the sentence. He posted the appeal for further hearing on October 27.
“The appellant has been awarded a sentence of three months. Having regard to the quantum of the sentence, its execution needs to be suspended,” Justice Joshi said.
According to the prosecution, the incident took place on March 24, 2012, in the Chunabhatti area under Rajapeth police station limits in Amravati when Thakur, then an MLA, was moving in her vehicle along with her aides.
According to the charge sheet, Yashomati Thakur, her driver Sagar Suresh Khandekar, and party workers Sharad Kashirav Jawanjal and Raju Kisan Ingle, allegedly beat up traffic policeman Ulhas Raurale when he stopped her vehicle from entering a one-way lane.
Yashomati Thakur is currently the guardian minister of Amravati district.
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