Chennai: A special court for cases against MLAs and MPs convicted P Balakrishna Reddy, current Sports Minister of Tamil Nadu, in a 1998 arson case.
The court sentenced him to a three year imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs10,000. After the court pronounced its order, the Sports Minister moved a memo against the conviction. The trial judge suspended his sentencing and has asked the Minister to appeal before the Madras High Court within 30 days.
If an elected representative is convicted, he stands disqualified as per the provisions governing statutory disqualification of the Representation of People Act.
Opposition leader MK Stalin demanded Reddy's dismissal from the state cabinet. Stalin said that if the leader is not removed from the cabinet, the DMK will approach the governor.
The case related to a protest against the sale of illicit liquor in Krishnagiri district in 1998 when clashes between the public and police turned violent and there was damage to public property and the police vehicle too was set on fire. A case was filed against Balakrishna Reddy and 108 others.
Since Balakrishna Reddy is an elected representative, the case was transferred to the special court in Chennai.
The main accused Govind Reddy was awarded a five year imprisonment and also handed a fine of Rs 37,000.
The Section 8 of the RP Act deals with disqualification on conviction for certain offences. A person convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for varying terms under Sections 8 (1) (2) and (3) shall be disqualified from the date of conviction and shall be disqualified for a further period of six years since his release. However, the Section 8 (4) of the RP Act gave protection to MPs and MLAs as they could continue in office even after conviction if an appeal is filed within three months.
But in a recent judgment, a Supreme Court Bench of Justices AK Patnaik and SJ Mukhopadhaya struck down Section 8 (4) as unconstitutional and held that chargesheeted Members of Parliament and MLAs, when convicted, will stand disqualified from membership of the House without being given three months’ time for appeal.
Hours after he was sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment by a special court here in a two-decades old riot case,Reddy resigned from the K Palaniswami-cabinet. He submitted his resignation to chief minister K Palaniswami who forwarded it to Governor Banwarilal Purohit who has accepted it.
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