BJP's Rita Bahuguna, 4 others convicted for code breach during 2012 UP polls

A special court on Friday held Bharatiya Janata Party Rita Bahuguna Joshi and four others guilty of violation of the model code of conduct during the 2012 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

The special court for cases involving MPs and MLAs later ordered their release on probation for a period of six months.

Joshi was a Congress leader in 2012 and joined the BJP in 2016.

The four other convicts are Prabha Srivastava, Ram Singh, Manoj Chaurasia and Sanjai Yadav.

According to the prosecution, the FIR in the case was lodged at Krishna Nagar police station against Joshi, who was contesting the election on a Congress ticket, for addressing a public rally in Bajranj Nagar mohalla even after the time for campaigning had ended.

The police investigated the case and submitted the charge sheet against the convicts on June 17, 2012. An accused, Shakil Ahmad, had died during pendency of trial.

Joshi is currently the BJP MP from Allahabad.

Special court judge A K Srivastava directed the convicts to file two sureties of Rs 20,000 each and a personal bond of the same amount before the district probation officer for maintaining good conduct during the probation period.

The court directed the convicts to appear before the probation officer within the next 30 days.

The period of six months would be calculated from the date of appearance of the convicts before the probation officer.

Forwarding a copy of the order to the probation officer, the court warned the convicts that if they did not appear before the probation officer within stipulated time, it would summon them again and hear them on quantum of sentence.