UP government moves Supreme Court to save Phoolan Devi

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

The Uttar Pradesh government has moved the Supreme Court to save bandit-turned-MP Phoolan Devi from arrest ordered by the trial court in Kanpur.

An official spokesman told Rediff On The NeT that a special leave petition was filed before the Supreme Court against the Allahabad high court's quashing of the state government's decision to withdraw every one of the 55 criminal cases pending against her in the UP courts.

The petition was moved on February 4 -- the day Phoolan Devi was scheduled to appear before the special judge (anti-dacoity) at Kanpur, in response to a non-bailable warrant.

The spokesman claimed the UP government's decision to move the apex court was necessitated in the public interest, as Phoolan Devi was an MP and had languished for 11 years in jail without a trial.

However, V N S Sengar, the counsel for the sole survivor of the Behmai massacre, told Rediff On The NeT, "this proves our charge that the state authorities were themselves not interested in arresting her." He went on to blame Defence Minister and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav -- to whose party Phoolan belongs -- who is in a position to influence the state administration, which is currently under central rule.

The petition in the Supreme Court, the UP government spokesman added, will come up for hearing well before February 17 when the trial court in Kanpur had ordered her to be produced before it,