A special court on Wednesday sentenced Telangana legislator and former state minister in united Andhra Pradesh, Danam Nagender, to six months imprisonment in an assault case. The special court for trial of MPs and MLAs convicted Nagender and his driver C Raju for assaulting a person inside a police station in Hyderabad in 2013. Both were convicted under Section 323 (assault) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). A fine of Rs 1,000 each was also imposed on them. In case of default in payment of fine, they will have to undergo one more month of simple imprisonment. The court later granted bail to Nagender and his driver by allowing them to appeal the court’s verdict in a month.
The case is related to 2013 when Nagender was a minister in the Congress government in the then undivided Andhra Pradesh. A man named Subba Rao, who was travelling in his car, applied brakes at a traffic signal. This annoyed Raju, who was coming from behind him in his car. There was an argument between the two on the road. Police, who rushed there, shifted them to Banjara Hills police station. On learning about the incident, Nagender reached the police station. The minister's driver attacked Subba Rao inside the police station on the alleged instigation by the minister.
On a complaint by Subba Rao, police had registered a case under Sections 323 and 506 (criminal intimidation) against Nagender and his driver. They were acquitted of the charge under Section 506. Overall, there is poor conviction in the cases against MLAs and MPs. The Forum for Good Governance has written to the Governor to issue instructions to improve the conviction rate of cases. Overall, according to the forum, only 3.5% of cases against lawmakers have seen a conviction.