GORAKHPUR: A local court has issued a warrant against Uttar Pradesh minister Sanjay Nishad in connection with a 2015 case.
While Gorakhpur-based lawyer and Nishad Yuva Vahini's national president Sushil Sahini said the warrant was non-bailable in nature, the minister's lawyer noted that the CJM court had issued a bailable warrant and Sanjay Nishad will appear before the court on August 10.
"The warrant is NBW (non-bailable). It was issued on August 4 and the court sent it to Shahpur police station on August 6," Sahini asserted.
However, the minister's lawyer Surnedra Nishad contended that it was a bailable warrant.
"The warrant issued by the Gorakhpur Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court is bailable and on August 10, Sanjay Nishad will be present in the court. The case was registered against 37 people in 2015 among which three people have died, and the hearing of Sanjay Nishad is going on in the CJM court. The hearing in the matter should be shifted to an MP/MLA court," the lawyer said.
At present, Sanjay Nishad, the fisheries minister, is in Vishakhapatnam, according to the NISHAD party's media in-charge, Nikky Nishad.
Meanwhile, the minister, through a statement, said he has full faith in the judiciary.
"I got information through media that the honourable CJM court has issued a bailable warrant against me in connection with the Kasarwal movement for Nishad reservation. At present, I have come to Andhra Pradesh and on August 10, I will appear in front of the court. I have full faith in the judiciary that it will do justice to me in the fake cases lodged against me and my brothers under the previous Samajwadi Party regime," the statement said on Sunday.
"I am ready to go to jail for the rights of my community, and I will always raise the issue of the rights of my community. People in the opposition are spreading rumours that the court has issued an order to arrest me," it said.
The Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal (NISHAD) party is an ally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the northern state, and it has six MLAs in the UP Legislative Assembly.
Sanjay Nishad is a member of the state's legislative council.