A court in Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur on Tuesday directed the police to arrest Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh and five others after taking strong objection to them skipping a hearing in connection with a 2001 protest case, PTI reported.

The case pertains to a protest held in the city on June 19, 2001, under the leadership of former Samajwadi Party MLA Anoop Sanda against the poor supply of electricity. Singh had participated in it along with former councillors Kamal Srivastava, Vijay Kumar, Santosh and Subhash Chaudhary.

Subsequently, a case was registered against the six persons at the Kotwali Nagar police station.

On January 11, 2023, all of them were convicted by Special Magistrate Yogesh Yadav and sentenced to three-month imprisonment.

On August 9, the six of them were ordered to appear before the MP/MLA court of Special Magistrate Shubham Verma. On August 13, a non-bailable warrant was issued against them after they failed to appear before it and a hearing was scheduled for Tuesday, PTI reported.

Singh and Sanda filed an application for bail in the Allahabad High Court, said advocate Madan Singh, who is representing them, adding that a hearing was listed for August 22.

However, the special court directed the police to arrest all the accused and produce them before it by August 28, an unidentified court official told PTI.