`I am ready to go to jail for the rights of.....`, says UP Fisheries minister and Nishad party chief

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Fisheries Minister and Nishad party chief Sanjay Nishad, who has been served a warrant by a Gorakhpur court in connection with a 2015 case connected to an agitation, has said that he is ready to go to jail for the rights of his community. Reacting to the court warrant, the minister said that he was not afraid to go to jail for the sake of his people, but added that he had full faith in the judiciary. "I am ready to go to jail for the rights of my community. I will always raise the issue of the rights of my Nishad community," the minister said in a statement released from Andhra Pradesh where he is currently on a visit.

The minister will return on August 9, a day before he is to appear before the Gorakhpur chief judicial magistrate`s court. "I will appear before the court to present my case on August 10," the minister added in his statement. It is not clear yet whether the warrant is bailable or non bailable (NBW), however, the minister and his lawyer claimed it was bailable. "Our opponents are spreading rumours that the court has issued an order to arrest me," the minister said.

His lawyer Surendra Nishad confirmed it was a bailable warrant even as Gorakhpur-based lawyer and Nishad Yuva Vahini`s national president Sushil Sahini claimed the warrant was non-bailable. "I have full faith in the judiciary and on August 10, I am sure that the court will do justice in the 2015 case, in which the then Samajwadi Party (SP) government engaged in barbaric behaviour on Nishads and got fake cases registered," the minister said.

In 2015, an agitation for seeking reservation for Nishad community in government jobs, had turned violent in Sahjanwa locality of Gorakhpur. One person had died in the violence and several others, including many police personnel, had been injured. Cases were subsequently registered against Sanjay Nishad and others.The minister had been charged with inciting the crowd.