Cong MLA gets one year in jail for manhandling govt officials

A special court here sentenced Babulal Jandel, a Congress MLA from Sheopur, and 14 others to one year's imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 500 each for manhandling government officials and obstruction of duty. Special court judge Suresh Singh sentenced Jandel and 14 others to one year's imprisonment by upholding the lower court's order, a prosecution official said on Wednesday.

The judicial magistrate of Sheopur in Madhya Pradesh had awarded the same sentence on July 15 2015. But the accused later appealed against the judgment in the sessions court, from where the case got transferred to a special court, constituted for cases against MPs and MLAs, the official said. In 2008, the Sheopur police had registered a case against Jandel and 14 others for manhandling an engineer and other officials from the water resources department, preventing them from discharging their official duties and threatening them over the closure of Chambal canal gate.