INDIA. Lucknow: Actor-politician Raj Babbar has been convicted of assaulting a polling officer. Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court has sentenced him to two years in prison along with a fine of rupees 8,500. He was charged with voluntarily causing injury to deter a public servant from performing his duty and three other offences.
The polling officer had lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against Raj Babbar during an election in May 1996. The complaint was lodged at the Wazirganj police station here in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. At that time, Raj Babbar was contesting the election from the Samajwadi Party against veteran politician Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Babbar was present in the courtroom when the verdict was announced.
Babbar was born on 23 June 1952 in UP’s Agra district, Raj Babbar graduated in theatre. Later, he studied at the reputed National School of Drama(NSD).
He made his film debut in 1980 with Insaaf Ka Tarazu. Some of his notable films are Saazish, Aankhen, Dalaal, The Gambler, Andaz, Yaarana, Barsaat, and Ziddi. He has worked in more than 150 films.
In his later years, the actor decided to foray into active politics. Babbar made his political debut with Samajwadi Party in the early 90s and was nominated to Rajya Sabha in 1994.
There he worked for various departments including Home Affairs; Consultative Committee, and Ministry of Civil Aviation. In 1999, he contested the Agra constituency and defeated his nearest rival BS Rawat of the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) by a margin of more than 1,10,000 votes.
In 2008, he joined the Indian National Congress, following which, he won his fourth term as an MP. However, he lost the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and 2019.
He was also appointed as the president of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC), but in the 2019 elections, he couldn’t even manage to save his seat and lost to Rajkumar Chahar of the Bharatiya Janata Party by a huge margin of 4,95,065 votes.
ALSO READ: Alt News Co-founder Mohammed Zubair Produced before Delhi Court
