SC stays trial against former Samajwadi Party MP in arms case

     New Delhi, May 1 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the trial in a 2007 arms case against a former Samajwadi Party Lok Sabha MP who claimed "harassment" owing to political vendetta.
     A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta noted the submissions of lawyer Rohit A Sthalekar, appearing for former Mirzapur MP Bal Kumar Patel.
     The counsel argued the motive behind the criminal cases was to "harass the petitioner and tarnish his political career”.
     “You belong to which party?” Justice Nath asked.
     The lawyer responded, “I am a former MP. I am in the Samajwadi party.”
     The bench then ordered, “Issue notice. There will be a stay of the proceedings in the criminal case before the trial court (before the 4th Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate in Raebareli).”
     The former MP from UP sought quashing of the FIR and moved the top court against an April 7 Allahabad High Court order which dismissed his plea to quash the criminal proceedings stemming from a 2007 Arms Act case.
     “Petitioner is a former Member of Parliament from District Mirzapur and is a well respected and accomplished politician. Due to political rivalry, numerous frivolous and vexatious complaints came to be registered against him during his political career in which the Petitioner stood exonerated," his plea argued.
     The former legislator called the FIR against him "vexatious and frivolous" filed under various provisions of the Arms Act, 1959 for allegedly procuring an arms licence on the basis of forged documents and possessing ammunition over the prescribed limit with the firearm. A chargesheet was later filed against Patel.
     The high court dismissed his plea observing the state government wasn't inclined to withdraw the case and Patel lacked the right to compel the state to seek such permission.
     The FIR against him was filed on June 12, 2007 but Patel argued no misuse of the licensed weapon was ever established.
     His plea referred to a 2012 decision of the district magistrate reinstating his firearm license upon ruling out any wrongdoing.
     A government order (GO) of August 6, 2014 authorised the public prosecutor to seek withdrawal of the prosecution in public interest, the plea added.
     However, the trial court rejected the withdrawal application on October 8, 2021, citing the Supreme Court's 2021 judgment which mandated high court's permission before withdrawal of cases against MPs and MLAs.
     The high court in its 2025 ruling held the state’s inaction signalled an intention to continue with the prosecution.
     The plea said despite a clear GO and the public prosecutor’s support for withdrawal, the state government failed to seek the nod of the high court in a timely manner.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)