Lucknow. The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has given a big relief to MLC Akshay Pratap Singh alias Gopalji. The High Court has allowed the petition of the District Judge of Pratapgarh seeking transfer of his appeal from the court. The Court has ordered to transfer the appeal to Additional Sessions Judge, MP-MLA Court, Pratapgarh for hearing.
Along with this, the court has also ordered to stay the notice regarding cancellation of bail issued by the district judge. The order was passed by a single bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh while allowing the transfer petition of Akshay Pratap Singh. Senior advocate HGS Parihar argued for the petitioner.
The petition said that on March 23, 2022, the Magistrate Court had sentenced the petitioner to seven years’ imprisonment in the case of obtaining the license of the firearm at the wrong address. On appeal before the Sessions Court against that decision, the petitioner got bail. On failing to appear on the two dates of appeal, the District Judge’s court summoned the petitioner and asked him to explain why his bail should not be rejected.
The court said in its order that in compliance with the order of the Supreme Court, on August 16, 2019, the High Court, while issuing a notification, designated special courts to hear the cases of MPs and MLAs. District and Sessions Judge, Pratapgarh is not designated as a special court to hear cases of MPs and MLAs. The appeal of the petitioner should have been transferred to the special court itself.
