BJP MP acquitted in 2011 assault case, district judge overturns lower court's verdict

Agra: A district court on Thursday acquitted BJP MP Ram Shankar Katheria in a 2011 case in which he was accused of violence, overturning the verdict of a lower court that had sentenced him to two years in jail.

A two-year sentence could have led to the Etawah MPs disqualification from Parliament.

The verdict of the Agra district judge's court comes three months after Katheria was held guilty by an MP/MLA court.

The former Union minister was booked for thrashing staff members of Torrent Power Limited in Agra in 2011, when the state had a Bahujan Samaj Party government.

On August 5, Special Magistrate MP/MLA Court Anuj held Katheria guilty of the charges and had imposed a penalty of Rs 50,000.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Katheria said, “I was sentenced to two years jail by a court in Agra. After that I took legal help from my advocates and appealed before the Agra district judge’s court. Today on November 2, I was acquitted by the court in the case. I respect the decision of the court.” The BJP leader was booked for an incident alleged to have happened on November 16, 2011. The case was registered under IPC sections 147 (riots) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt to people) the same day.

Recounting the incident, Katheria said, “It was a matter related to an SC woman, who irons clothes on the Shamsabad road in Agra. She had complained to me about getting excessive electricity bills from Torrent.” “One day the woman came to my office and threatened to commit suicide over the excessive bill,” he added.

The MP said that after he heard the woman’s complaint, he approached the Torrent office and asked officials there to reconsider the bills.

“In 2011, it was the BSP’s government in Uttar Pradesh and many fake cases were registered against me. However, I have full respect for the court,” he said.

Katheria contested from Agra Lok Sabha seat in 2009 and won. He again won in 2014 and was made MoS in the Human Resource Development Ministry. He stayed in that post from November 2014 till 2016.

He was also appointed the chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes.

In 2019, he was denied a ticket from Agra Lok Sabha seat and was asked to contest from Etawah, from where he again won.