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Warrant issued against Minister

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR, AUG. 23. A Railway Court in Jodhpur has issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against the Rajasthan Minister for Forests and Environment, Laxminarain Dave, following his continued absence during the hearing of a four-year-old case of alleged stoppage of trains and damage to Railway property during an agitation at Sojat Road railway station.

Mr. Dave, then a Bharatiya Janata Party leader, allegedly led a `rail roko' agitation at the Marwar Junction, Merta Road and Sojat Road Railway Stations in western Rajasthan in 2000. A huge crowd gathered at the Sojat Road station on July 6, 2000, demanding the stoppage of the Ajmer-Bangalore Express there.

It also stopped the Jaipur-Bangalore Express, Jaipur-Bandra Terminus Express and the Delhi Mail at the station, and indulged in violence, damaging Railway property. A large number of people were injured when police resorted to larthicharge to control them.

The Railway Police booked cases against Mr. Dave and several other leaders and activists. While the case against Mr. Dave was listed for hearing in the court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (Railway), Gajendra Kumar Jain, this past weekend, Mr. Dave moved an application for exemption from personal appearance.

The magistrate, during the hearing in the camp court in Mount Abu, took exception to the continued absence of Mr. Dave and issued the arrest warrant against him, while rejecting his plea for leave from personal appearance. The prosecution has not filed the chargesheet against the Minister as yet.

Reacting to the court order, Mr. Dave ruled out his resignation on the issue saying that he was "merely present" at the railway station when the agitationists stopped the trains. He told mediapersons in Jodhpur on Sunday that he had no role in the violence that followed.

As regards his absence in the court, he was on a visit to Karauli and nearby areas when the case was fixed for hearing and he had sought exemption through his counsel. After his plea was rejected, Mr. Dave moved a fresh application seeking leave from personal appearance.

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