[MLA fund misappropriation] Hardened, habitual offender but not a single conviction: Allahabad High Court denies bail to Mukhtar Ansari

The Allahabad High Court on Monday refused to grant bail to former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Mukhtar Ansari in the MLA fund misappropriation (Vidhayak Nidhi) case [Mukhtar Ansari v. State of UP]..Justice Rahul Chaturvedi denied bail noting that Vidhayak Nidhi was hard-earned tax payer money, and nobody is authorized to have the "moral or legal guts" to misuse the amount for their own use or for any other clandestine purpose."Reckless distribution of “Vidhayak Nidhi” by unscrupulous MLA are causing more harm to the society and subject matter resentment among the masses," said the single-judge. .In this regard, the State was requested to constitute a committee under the Assembly Speaker's leadership, with three senior bureaucrats to audit the Vidhayak Nidhi of individual MLAs, and its utilization. .At the very outset of the bail order, the Court described Ansari as a hardened and habitual offender, in the sphere of crime since 1986 but surprisingly without conviction. "The applicant deserves no introduction in the State of UP on account of his alleged ‘Robin Hood’ image in Hindi speaking States of India."The Court, in fact, opined that it was a slur and challenge to the judicial system that such a dreaded and ‘white collared’ criminal in the field of crime was undefeated and unabetted."It is indeed astounding and more amusing angle of the issue, that a person having more than 50+ criminal cases to his credit of various varieties, has managed his affairs in such a way that he has not received a single conviction order against him," the order said. .Ansari is facing prosecution under various sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC) during the pendency of this trial. Though he had been behind bars since October 25, 2005 in relation to other cases, the warrant in the present case was served on July 16, 2021..Justice Chaturvedi expressed no hesitation that the applicant was prima facie a culprit of swindling public money entrusted to him by way of Vidhayak Nidhi scheme, that he had distributed it to his own near and dear ones in the name of constructing a new educational institution."The prosecution has got every right to inquire as to where this huge amount of Rs. 25 lakhs has been used or rather misutilized," the Court said. .In response to the applicant's submissions that Ansari was an indispensable political personality in the State, the Court said that he had been in jail since 2005, which in itself was a dichotomous situation. "One can easily gauge his nature and character, whether he is a popular political personality or he is a biggest nuisance to the society, who is in jail since 2005 and despite of this he is winning the elections one after the other.".The single-judge also refused the argument of parity with the co-accused who were granted bail. "Assessing the totality of circumstances, I do not find any good reason to release the applicant on bail and consequently, the bail application of the applicant Mokhtar Anasri is hereby turned down and rejected," the Court held. .Additionally, while hearing the case, the High Court drew attention to Ansari's criminal antecedents, and how he is under trial in as many as 21 criminal cases. In this regard, the trial court was directed to take up the trials on the top priority, and decide them without consuming further time."This is a most unfortunate and ugly face of our democracy where a person on one hand facing almost two dozen Sessions Trials and on the other hand the public is electing him as their representative for six consecutive times," the Court said. .The applicant was represented by advocate Upendra Upadhayay while the opposite party was represented by AGA Ratnendu Kumar Singh..[Read Order]