UP court issues non-bailable warrant against Sanjay Singh in 23-year-old case of road blockade

Sultanpur: An MP/MLA court here issued a non-bailable warrant against AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and five others on Tuesday after they failed to surrender following their conviction and sentencing in an over two-decade-old case related to a road blockade protest.

The court had on August 6 upheld the 45-day jail sentence to Singh, SP national spokesperson and former MLA Anoop Sanda and others and had directed them to surrender on August 9.

On Friday, Singh did not come to the court citing Parliament proceedings and the next hearing was fixed for Monday, August 12. However, the hearing did not take place on Monday as the special judge of the MP-MLA court was on leave.

On Wednesday, Special Magistrate of MP/MLA court Shubham Verma issued non-bailable warrants against Singh and other convicts for not appearing in the court to surrender.

Sanjay Singh's advocate Madan Singh said, "Special magistrate Shubham Verma attended the court on Tuesday and issued a non-bailable warrant against all" those convicted in the case.

The next hearing will be held on August 20.

According to the prosecution, the incident occurred on June 19, 2001, when Anoop Sanda, then a leader of the Democratic Socialist Party, and Singh along with their supporters blocked the road near a flyover here during a protest over power issues.

The special court's then-magistrate Yogesh Yadav had convicted all six accused, including Sanda and Singh, on January 11, 2023, sentencing them to 45 days in jail and imposing a fine of Rs 1,500 each.

Last week, Special Sessions Judge (MP/MLA) Ekta Verma dismissed the appeal of Singh and Sanda against their conviction and sentence.

Sanjay Singh, one of the founding members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which was floated in 2012, hails from Sultanpur district and was earlier associated with the Democratic Socialist Party.