Two Congress MLAs jailed for blocking Jaipur road in 2014

Image for representation. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

A magistrate’s court here sentenced two sitting Congress MLAs and seven others to one-year imprisonment on Wednesday (June 18, 2025) in an 11-year-old case of unlawful assembly and blocking of a public road outside the University of Rajasthan during a protest. The convicts also included an unsuccessful Congress candidate in the 2023 Rajasthan Assembly election.

Congress MLAs Mukesh Bhakar, elected from Ladnun, and Manish Yadav, representing Shahpura, were among the student leaders who staged a protest and blocked Jawaharlal Nehru Marg outside the university’s gate for about 20 minutes on August 13, 2014. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Parikshita Detha found them guilty after a protracted trial lasting 11 years.

The two MLAs, who were then National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) leaders, had gathered along with about 200 students at the university’s gate to protest against the process followed for the Common Entrance Test (CET) for admission to postgraduate courses. The State was ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party at the time.

The nine were convicted under Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 283 (danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation), and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to one year’s imprisonment each, along with a fine of ₹3,200 each.

Bail granted

The court granted bail to all the convicts and gave them one month’s time to file an appeal in a higher court. Among the convicts, Abhishek Chaudhary contested the 2023 Assembly election as a Congress candidate from Jaipur’s Jhotwara constituency and lost.

The other convicts in the case are Rajesh Meena, Ravi Kirad, Wasim Khan, Dron Yadav, Bhanu Pratap Singh, and Vidyadhar Meel. The court observed that their protest had led to a complete blockade of Jawaharlal Nehru Marg, which is an important arterial road in Jaipur, and caused a significant traffic disruption.

The Assembly membership of both Mr. Bhakar and Mr. Yadav will remain unaffected, as a legislator can be disqualified only on being convicted of an offence with a two-year sentence or more, as per Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

The Assembly membership of Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Kanwar Lal Meena was terminated last month after he was sentenced to three years in jail in a 20-year-old case for brandishing a revolver at a Sub-Divisional Magistrate. Baran district’s Anta Assembly seat has fallen vacant after Meena’s disqualification.

Published - June 18, 2025 11:25 pm IST