SC sentences Balli to 3 months imprisonment

New Delhi, Apr 10: The Supreme Court today sentenced BJP MLA from Harinagar Harsharan Singh Balli to three months imprisonment holdinng him guilty of the criminal contempt of the apex court.

Balli was caught on camera breaking the seals of commercial premises sealed by MCD under the Supreme Court order.

Balli, who was personally present on the court, however, demanded that the pension of former Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal should be stopped for passing wrong orders and told the court that he had broken seals of 22 premises in Raja Garden and not of four. The clamied that he owed it to the people as their representative and demanded compensation from those officers who had taken him into custody when he was breaking the seals.

A three-judge bench comprising Justice Arijit Pasayat, C K Thakker and Lokeshwar Singh Panta took suo motu cognisance and pronounced the sentence.

When Balli asked the court whether he should surrender, the court said, ''police will do its job. Don't worry.'' Balli also asserted that the orders of his court were against public interest.

He had remained in jail for 15 days following the Supreme Court-appointed Monitoring Committee's order, for which he demanded compensation.

UNI