Court upholds jail term of BJP MLA

A local court today dismissed the petition of Jharkhand BJP MLA Dhulu Mahto and upheld his one-year jail term for snatching an accused from police custody 10 years ago.
Ambujnath, the Principal District and Session Judge, who had reserved the order, dismissed the Bhaghmara MLA's petition and upheld the order of the lower court.
The legislator, who is attending the assembly session, was absent when the court announced the verdict.
On January 20, judicial magistrate Md Umar had held Dhulu Mahto guilty under IPC section 353 (assault or use of criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty) and sentenced him to one-year in prison for snatching away a supporter, who was an accused in illegal liquor trading, from police custody at Barora market, 20km from here, on December 26, 2006.

The MLA had challenged the order in the upper court.
The case was filed by police against Mahto on December 26, 2006 and he was not an MLA at the time.
He had won the assembly election in 2009 on Jharkhand Vikash Morcha(P) ticket, joined BJP in 2014 and retained his Bhaghmara seat.