“Nobody is above the law,” Judge D M Kerkar said. The maximum punishment for the offence was being given to drive home the point. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on the controversial Nationalist Congress Party MLA. The order has been suspended for 30 days for him to appeal to a higher court.
Pacheco was in court through the pronouncement of the order and told the media he would appeal against the sentence. “I respect the order, but there is no evidence against me in the case,” he said.
But witnesses testified otherwise. They said Pacheco, then a minister, had summoned a junior engineer to his private office on July 15, 2006, and in a fit of anger slapped him over electricity supply to his constituency.
Published 27 April 2011, 17:23 IST