The Allahabad High Court on Friday reserved its order on the bail application of ex-MLA of Samajwadi Party Irfan Solanki in the house arson case of Kanpur district.
Irfan Solanki had lost his membership of assembly (MLA) after the pronouncement of this judgement, as the sentence was of more than two years. As per a Supreme Court judgement, if punishment is of more than two years, the MP or MLA concerned will lose his membership of house.
The above order was passed by a division bench comprising justice Rajiv Gupta and Justice Surendra Singh – l after hearing counsel for Irfan Solanki, the state government’s counsel and complainant’s counsel.
It is recalled that on the charges of putting fire in the house of one Fatima resident of the defence colony in the Jajmau area, the special court of Kanpur had convicted and awarded a sentence of seven years imprisonment to Irfan Solanki, the then MLA of Kanpur cant, along with four others in its judgement dated June 07, 2024. Against this judgement, the present criminal appeal has been filed before the high court. On the other hand, the state government has also filed an appeal for the enhancement of the sentence of Irfan Solanki.
Along with the appeal, Irfan Solanki has also filed an application for bail as well as for stay of sentence that is being heard by the court in the pending appeal.
Earlier, on behalf of the appellant, his counsels had pleaded that it is a case of circumstantial evidence and there is no evidence, which amongst the accused had lit the fire. The implication of the appellant was due to political vendetta. Besides, the punishment awarded is seven years and he has already spent two years in jail.
On the other hand, the stand of the state government’s counsel was that the prosecution had proved his case beyond the reasonable doubt and the appellant had been convicted accordingly. Hence, he does not deserve to be released on bail.