Jaipur, May 22 -- Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Kanwar Lal Meena surrendered before a trial court in Jhalawar district on Wednesday, following a directive of the Supreme Court, which upheld his conviction and three-year sentencing for threatening an official in a 20-year-old case. On May 7, the Supreme Court rejected the MLA's plea challenging his conviction and sentencing by a lower court and gave him two weeks to surrender. Meena, who represents Anta assembly constituency, surrendered before the Manohar Thana court on the last day of the deadline. "The MLA, Kanwar Meena, surrendered before the trial court at around 11.30 am on Wednesday. He has been sent to the Aklera Jail in Jhalawar by the court," said Nandkishor Verma, station house officer (SHO), Manohar Thana police station, where the FIR was registered against Meena. Meena is accused of obstructing government work and threatening a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Ramniwas Mehta, by putting a gun to his head and threatening to kill him on January 3, 2005. Meena, who was not an MLA at the time, along with a group of villagers, had gone to the SDM's office to demand a recount of voting in the deputy sarpanch's election in Khatakhedi. He also threatened an IAS probationer and a tehsildar and broke the camera of the government videographer. On December 14, 2020, the ADJ court, Aklera found Meena guilty and sentenced him to three-year imprisonment. He challenged the verdict in the Rajasthan high court, which on May 2 this year, upheld the order, following which Meena approached the Supreme Court. On May 7, a three-judge bench of the apex court comprising justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta rejected the special leave petition (SLP) filed by Meena and gave him two weeks to surrender before the trial court. "In the meantime, the trial court also issued an arrest warrant against Meena on May 9," the SHO said. Meena's lawyers said they have filed a review petition in the Supreme Court and a decision was pending, amid growing demand for his disqualification as the member of the legislative assembly from the Opposition Congress. According to the Representation of the People Act (RPA), 1951, the conviction of an MLA leading to a sentence of imprisonment for two years or more automatically triggers disqualification, which continues till a further six-year period after the release. On Tuesday, Rajasthan assembly Speaker Vasudev Devnani sought legal opinion of state advocate general on the termination of Meena's membership. Several opposition MLAs, including leader of the Opposition Tikaram Jully, met the speaker and submitted a memorandum on the decision to be taken on Meena's membership. A Congress delegation, led by Jully, has also submitted a memorandum to governor Haribhau Bagade pleading not to provide any relief to the convicted BJP MLA. On Wednesday, Jully said the Congress will move the Supreme Court, seeking Meena's disqualification. "Today is a shameful day for the Rajasthan Assembly when a BJP MLA, while being a member of this assembly, has surrendered as a convicted prisoner... This has happened for the first time in the history of the Vidhan Sabha. The Vidhan Sabha speaker did not cancel the membership even after 20 days of sentencing under the Representation of the People Act, due to which such a shameful day has come," LoP Jully said in a post on X on Wednesday. "They can disqualify Rahul Gandhi in just 24 hours in Parliament. But now, they said that this MLA's file has been sent for a consultation with the AG. Why so? We hope that the Speaker of the Assembly will immediately cancel this membership after Meena's surrender and take some care of the dignity of his post," Jully added. He was referring to the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as a Lok Sabha member on March 24, 2023, just days after his conviction and two-year sentencing by a sessions court in Surat, Gujarat in a defamation case. Gandhi was reinstated as Wayanad MP after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction in August 2023. Speaker Devnani refused to comment on the development, saying: "I can't comment on this matter now. I will return to Jaipur and sit with the concerned people to take a decision on it." State's parliamentary affairs minister Jogram Patel and BJP chief whip Jogeswar Garg did not respond to multiple calls from HT for a comment on the developement. BJP spokesperson Laxmikant Bharadwaj said: "Speaker is looking into the matter and will hopefully take a decision soon."...