The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Thursday stayed the arrest of Samajwadi Party national general secretary Amar Singh in connection with the various criminal offences registered against him.
A division bench comprising Justice Vishnu Sahai and Justice Y R Tripathi passed the order in a packed courtroom and gave the state government four weeks to file a counter-affidavit.
The party now proposes to move fresh
applications on behalf of its president, Mulayam Singh Yadav, and other office-bearers who are also being targeted by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati."We may file separate writ petitions on the same lines for Mulayam Singh Yadav and others tomorrow," senior advocate Veerendra Bhatia told reporters.
As many as 136 criminal cases were slapped simultaneously against Yadav on Monday by Mayawati's government in 40 of the state's 73 districts on Monday.
Mayawati has charged Yadav and his close associates with, among other things, misusing the chief minister's discretionary fund and surreptitiously videotaping a private function of the Bahujan Samaj Party.
In retaliation, Yadav proposes to target Mayawati for what the Samajwadi Party terms gross misuse of the state exchequer for party functions and for pursuing a political agenda. Besides, the party accuses her of house- and land-grabbing.
Meanwhile, there was much jubilation at the Samajwadi Party's state headquarters in Lucknow after the court stayed Amar Singh's arrest. "The court has undone Mayawati's injustice," said state Samajwadi general secretary Shivpal Singh Yadav, younger brother of Mulayam Singh.
