By IANS
Jaipur : A lower court in Rajasthan’s Rajsamand district, about 350 km from here, ordered six-month jail term to a junior minister in Vasundhara Raje’s government.
Though the sentence was read out Tuesday, it was made public only on Thursday. The minister said he would appeal against the verdict to the higher court.
The court of a magistrate on Tuesday on an application filed in 2003 by the Mine & Safety Department found the minister, Surendra Singh Rathore, guilty under sections 66, 70 and 72(A) of the Mines Act, 1952.
He was also asked to pay a penalty of Rs. 2,000, failing which his jail term would be extended.
Rathore, who is a state minister for irrigation in Raje’s cabinet, was reprimanded by the department for not following safety standards in one of his mines in Amet in Rajsamand district. It later filed a case against him in a court here.
The magistrate has given him a month’s time to file an appeal to a higher court.
The minister said he would file an appeal.