- विज्ञापन -
New Delhi: Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court on Friday sentenced ex-MLA Kishore Samrite to six months of imprisonment for giving a threat to blow up Parliament in September 2022.
The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on him.
Samrite is an ex-MLA from Lanji and was convicted of making a threat to blow up the Parliament.
On 18.02.2025, the court had convicted him for the offence punishable under section 506 Part II IPC for writing a letter containing a threat.
Special judge Vishal Gogne, after hearing submissions on the quantum of sentence, awarded Kishore Samrite six months imprisonment and fined him Rs 50,000.
The court has granted him bail to appeal against the judgment.
Samrite was acquitted of the offence under the Explosives Act,1884, as the suspicious substance could not be proved an explosive.
The court pointed out, “However, it still bears utmost reiteration that the threatening letter and the suspicious substance were sent to the Parliament of India, which is the temple of Indian democracy.”
An FIR under sections 5(a) of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908 & 9B(1)(b) of the Explosive Act,1884 was registered by the Crime Branch, Delhi police.
The allegation against him was that he threatened to blow up the Parliament of India and the then under construction building of the Parliament with dynamite at 11:00 o’clock on 30.09.2022 by sending a letter of threat (containing certain demands) and a suspicious substance to the Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha on 16.09.2022.
While sentencing Samrite for the offence under section 506 (II) IPC, the court said that the convict was not just an ordinary citizen. He is a former MLA from Lanji, District Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh.
The court also said that being most acquainted and sensitised to the security of Parliamentary establishments and more so to the sanctity of such representative institutions, his dispatch of such a threatening letter to the Parliament acted to normalise the threat of violence towards the elected Houses of the Parliament.
“If such conduct is not deterred, it raises the prospect of others emulating the course taken by Mr. Samrite for voicing his dissent towards government policies. Perhaps, every such threat would not be accompanied by harmless substances,” the special judge observed.
The court further said that Parliament It is a forum where issues of all hues and pertaining to national interest are expected to be discussed with decorum and in deference to public aspirations.
“For the highest contemplative body of the country to be subjected to a threat of being blown up with dynamite and the threatening letter to actually be accompanied by a suspicious substance is indeed a grave circumstance which requires an appropriate sentence,” the court said.
“Considering the above-noted mitigating and aggravating circumstances, convict Kishore Samrite is sentenced to simple imprisonment for six months along with a fine of Rs 50,000 upon conviction under section 506 Part II IPC,” Special Judge Gogne ordered on May 30.
During arguments on sentence, the public prosecutor pressed for the maximum sentence of seven years provided under section 506, Part II, IPC.
It was also argued that the convict willingly sent a threatening letter to the Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha along with a suspicious substance and that even though the suspicious substance did not turn out to be an explosive or explosive substance, the convict is still guilty of causing grave alarm at the Parliament establishment.
The Prosecution prayed that a suitably deterrent sentence was required to be imposed for discouraging such violation of the security of the Parliament of India. He is involved in as many as 20 criminal cases and has previously displayed violent tendencies and the inclination to violate the law.
On the other hand, the Counsel for Samrite read the contents of the said letter and argued that the tenor of this letter was only to agitate issues of local, national or public concern including alleged scams, creation of new states, issues pertaining to women and youth, encroachment of public land and like issues.
The counsel also cited the period of detention of three months and one day already undergone by the convict during trial and submitted that this period, along with the long duration of trial, has already served as severe punishment and time for reflection for the convict.
The court noted that Samrite previously convicted under sections 435, 149, 332, 149, 427, 149 and 147 of the Indian Penal Code and under section 3(1)(x) of SC/ST Act by the Special Judge (SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act), Balaghat, District Balaghat, he is not entitled to be considered for release on probation.
