A special Sessions Court bench, headed by judge Ch V R R Varaprasad, today sentenced BJP leader and Goshamahal MLA T Raja Singh to one year in jail for offences under sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter s public servant from discharge of his duty) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.
The judge also ordered him to pay a fine of Rs 5,000.
Later in the day, however, the court granted the MLA bail. It also suspended the year-long sentence to give him the chance to appeal before the state's High Court - he was reportedly given time till March 1, to do so.
The proceedings against Singh had been started because he reportedly assaulted a police official on duty and threatened him, in 2015.
(In 2015, the Joint Action Committee of the Osmania University (OU) had organised a beef festival to protest the Centre's beef ban in several states. Singh had attempted to protest against the festival which resulted in him being taken into preventive custody. He was later shifted to Secunderabad's Bollaram police station. When the police officials on duty, including SI Mallesh, tried to prevent other party leaders from meeting Singh, he assaulted Mallesh and threatened him. The chargesheet on the matter was filed in 2019.)
Speaking to the media after the hearing, the BJP legislator alleged that his followers had been lathi-charged for protesting the 2015 beef festival organised at OU, and when he questioned the police on the matter, a case was registered against him.
He vowed to challenge the conviction in the state's high court soon.
The MLA often finds himself in legal trouble over his provocative statements. Last month, too, the radical leader raised many eyebrows when he publicly demanded that the Centre make the
cow the national animal of India.