Nikhil Dey and the other activists were either associated with the Rajasthan Mazdoor Kisan Morcha (RMKM) or Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS)
A month after their conviction on charges of criminal trespass and causing hurt in an RTI related case in Ajmer that dates back to 1998, activists Nikhil Dey, Norti Bai, Ram Karan and Chotu Lal were acquitted through an order of the additional district judge’s court in Kishangarh after the complainants withdrew the case.
Dey and the others, all of whom were either associated with the Rajasthan Mazdoor Kisan Morcha (RMKM) or Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), had gone to the residence of Kishangarh’s Harmara village sarpanch Pyare Lal Tank on May 6, 1998, following corruption charges against the panchayat.
Lal had alleged that Dey and the others misbehaved with his family in his absence, a claim denied by the activists. A local court had convicted them under IPC Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 451 (house trespass) and sentenced them to four months’ imprisonment in June this year.
The sentence was suspended after the four RTI activists filed an appeal in the additional district judge’s court. The complainants, including Lal’s younger brother Om Prakash and others, then offered to withdraw the case. They submitted an application under Section 320 of the CrPC stating that there was no dispute between them and the accused and that the activists be acquitted on the basis of a signed agreement.
Based on the agreement, an order was passed acquitting the accused. Two separate orders of the court set aside the convictions, acquitting the activists of charges under IPC Sections 323 and 451. The court passed the orders on July 12 but the copies of the orders were received only recently, MKSS said in a statement.
“For the MKSS and the RTI community, this has come as a relief from a 19-year-long trial and conviction. Both the process of the trial and the conviction were regrettable miscarriage of justice. This entire sequence of events has unravelled and has reinforced the understanding of how such cases can be used as weapons of attrition to harass activists and distract them from their essential work of fighting corruption and demanding justice for marginalised,” MKSS said.
