An MP/MLA court in Prayagraj has acquitted former MP and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Upendra Tiwari in a 27-year-old case.
The order was recently passed by Navneet Singh, Civil Judge (Senior Division)/ Magistrate for M.P./M.L.A. Court, Prayagraj on an application filed under Section 321 of Cr.P.C on August 28, 2023.
Advocate Shitala Prasad Mishra appeared for Tiwari, who was earlier given the charge of Sports Ministry in the first term of the Yogi Adityanath government.
As per case details, the then In-Charge of Colonelganj Police Station in Prayagraj had registered a case against the two-time BJP MLA from Phephana seat for allegedly instigating riots by gathering students at Hindu Hostel intersection and blocking the road in 1996.
He was booked under Sections 147 (charges related to punishment for rioting), 148 (charges related to rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (charges related to every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) and 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 7 (molesting a person to prejudice of employment or business) of the Criminal Law Amendment Act.
Earlier on June 2 this year, a special MP-MLA court in Ballia had acquitted the former Uttar Pradesh Minister and three others for lack of evidence in a 13-year-old case related to alleged blocking of national highway at Phephana.
As per the case, on August 5, 2010, the then in-charge of Phephana police station T.P. Singh had lodged a case against Tiwari, former district president of BJP Devendra Yadav and two others under Sections 143 (knowingly joining an unlawful assembly and disturbing public peace), 341 and 186 (voluntarily obstructing a public servant in the discharge of his public functions).
The complaint alleged that Tiwari had illegally blocked the national highway from 7 am to 11 am by gathering a crowd for various demands at Phephana trisection.
After hearing arguments from both sides, Special Judge Tapasya Tripathi acquitted all the four accused, including Tiwari, for lack of evidence.