Lucknow, March 31 (IANS): The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has stayed the conviction of actor Raj Babbar in a case dating back to 1996 when he was contesting the Lok Sabha poll from Lucknow as a Samajwadi Party candidate.

Justice Mohd. Faiz Alam Khan passed this order on an application filed by Raj Babbar under Section 389(2) of the CrPC.

The application sought directives to suspend the effect, execution and operation of the conviction order dated July 7, 2022, passed by additional chief judicial magistrate-III for the offence in Lucknow arising out of an FIR lodged in 1996 at the Wazirganj police station.

As per the order, a prosecution witness and informant of the case said that the incident occurred on May 2, 1996, during polling.

It was alleged that some associates of Raj Babbar accompanied him to a polling booth and engaged in a scuffle with the polling party members, accusing them of fake polling. However, the witness further said that Babbar prevented his associates from doing so.

The additional chief judicial magistrate court in Lucknow convicted Babbar and sentenced him to a maximum of two years' imprisonment for the offence under Section 332 of the IPC on July 7, 2022.

Babbar filed an appeal against this conviction before the additional sessions judge, MP/MLA court in Lucknow, which is pending.

He sought directives from the court to suspend the effect, execution, and operation of the conviction order dated July 7, 2022. On the other hand, the state counsel opposed the application.

After hearing the matter, the court provided that during the pendency of this application, the said conviction of the applicant Raj Babbar will remain stayed/suspended/in abeyance.