Jodhpur, Sep 21 The Rajasthan High Court witnessed an unusual late-night hearing on Sunday, with special benches taking up a series of petitions seeking urgent protection from arrest of councillors and candidates ahead of the municipal election for mayors scheduled for Monday.
In what is believed to be the first such instance in the history of the Rajasthan High Court, proceedings in one of the matters continued till around 2 am on Monday, with the court granting interim protection from arrest to nine councillors from Hanumangarh and one from Bikaner.
The petitions were filed after several councillors and candidates expressed apprehension that they could be arrested in cases registered against them just before the elections, potentially preventing them from casting their votes or contesting the election.
Special benches were constituted on Sunday to hear the matters on the direction of Chief Justice Sanjay Kumar Agarwal.
Among the cases taken up was that of Congress councillor from Bikaner's Ward 18 Maqsood Ahmed. On a petition filed on his behalf by senior advocate Sachin Acharya, the high court stayed his arrest and directed that he be permitted to participate in the voting.
The matter was heard on Sunday by Justice Sunil Beniwal. The petitioner submitted that police had summoned Ahmed for questioning in connection with a case arising from an old dispute. It was alleged before the court that the move was aimed at preventing him from exercising his vote in the election.
The high court granted protection from arrest to Ahmed at around 11.15 pm on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, the court had also granted interim protection from arrest to Tejpal Mirdha, former chairman and councillor of Kuchera Municipality in Nagaur district, and Sushil Moondra, a candidate for chairman of the Shrivijaynagar Municipality in Sri Ganganagar.
The series of urgent petitions came against the backdrop of allegations surrounding the civic body elections that attempts were being made to influence councillors ahead of elections for chairpersons and mayors.
The court's intervention came hours before the scheduled elections, as the petitioners sought to ensure that criminal proceedings or the apprehension of arrest did not prevent elected representatives from exercising their franchise.
