After Punjab Industries Minister Anil Joshi’s failure to get relief against the non-bailable warrants issued against him in three separate cases, Amritsar court on Friday issued bailable warrants against him, along with his wife and seven other relatives, after they did not appear in court in the ‘dual votes’ case.
The warrants were issued by the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Youkti Goel after Joshi and his relatives failed to appear before the Court - their second successive non-appearance - when the case came up for hearing on Friday. Issuing warrants, the CJM has fixed June 11 as the next date of hearing in the matter.
Earlier, when the case first came up for hearing on April 9, Joshi and his family members failed to appear in person before the court despite the directions through an order passed on February 25.
The bailable warrants were issued days after the non-bailable warrants were issued against the BJP leader in two separate defamation cases and another related to destruction of private property. Joshi has failed to get relief in these cases so far, though his application for anticipatory bail is to come up for hearing in the court of the District Sessions Judge on May 12.
The court, in its February 25 order, had issued notices to Joshi and his relatives after the Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC-development) Pardeep Sabharwal registered a criminal complaint against him and his relatives in the court under sections 17, 18 and 31 of the Representation of Peoples Act (RP Act). The complaint was filed on the directions of the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Going into background of the matter, the ECI had directed the Punjab Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) VK Singh to file a complaint under the RP Act against Joshi and all other persons for having enrolled as voters in “more than one place” and also for making false declarations at the time of contesting elections.
ECI orders came on a representation made by two city-based advocates - Sandeep Gorsi and Vaneet Mahajan - in November 2012, alleging that the records pertaining to the electoral rolls from 2006 to 2013 had shown that Joshi and his wife Monica were listed as voters from Amritsar North and Amritsar East assembly constituencies, while his mother was listed as a voter from the both constituencies, apart from Tarn Taran, the ancestral town of the Joshi clan. All others were listed as voters from Amritsar North and from Tarn Taran.
Joshi has been the BJP MlA from Amritsar North constituency in 2007 and 2012.