Delhi court sentences ex-MLA to 6 months in jail for threatening to blow up Parliament

A Delhi court on Friday sentenced former Madhya Pradesh MLA Kishore Samrite to six months in jail for threatening to blow up Parliament in September 2022 over his ‘unfulfilled demands’. “The convict has been sentenced for a period of six months for the offence under Section 506 (II) of the IPC with fine,” Special Judge Vikas Dhull said. A parcel containing some suspicious substance related to explosives, besides an Indian flag, and a copy of the Constitution was received through speed post at the Parliament House on September 16, 2022. The judge said that the letter from Samrite, a former MLA from Lanji in Balaghat, threatening to blow up the Parliament building, constituted a threat to cause destruction of property by fire, thereby rendering him liable for conviction under Part II of Section 506 of IPC. The judge, however, acquitted Samrite of the charge under the Explosives Act, after noting that the substance in question did not constitute an “explosive” under the Act. Samrite was represented by advocate Manish Kumar Choudhary. The court in December 2022 granted bail to the accused noting that the threat to blow off Parliament did not result in any kind of explosion or loss to life or property. The parcel also had a 10-page signed complaint of Samrite, from which it was made out that he was showing dissatisfaction with the policies of the ruling government and made 70 different demands with a threat to blow off Parliament House on September 30, 2022, if his demands were not fulfilled. During the investigation, it also came to light that the accused had sent a similar parcel to the Supreme Court on September 19, 2022, and a separate FIR was lodged in that regard.

Delhi