LUCKNOW, Nov. 5 -- The court of the special judge (SC/ST Act) on Tuesday awarded 12 years prison term to advocate Parmanand Gupta for lodging a false FIR under the SC/ST Act with the help of his woman associate who belonged to the Schedule Caste category. Additional district judge Vivekanand Sharan Tripathi, who is special judge SC/ST court, passed the order and sentenced Parmanand Gupta to 12 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 45,000. On August 19 earlier this year, the same court had awarded life sentence to Gupta for lodging a false rape case under the SC/ST Act. Currently, Gupta is lodged in the Lucknow jail. According to government advocate Arvind Mishra, who represented the state government in the court, Gupta had misused the SC/ST Act to implicate Vipin Yadav, Ram Gopal Yadav, Bhagirath Pandit and Mohammad Tasuk. In the FIR lodged at the Chinhat police station, Lucknow, in February, 2023, Gupta had stated that Vipin Yadav, Ram Gopal Yadav, Bhagirath Pandit and Mohammad Tasuk had assaulted his associate Pooja Rawat. Before the then investigating officer assistant commissioner of police Abhay Pratap Mall, Pooja Rawat had confirmed the charges. Thereafter, the state social welfare department gave financial assistance of Rs 75000 to Pooja Rawat as mandated in the SC/ST Act. The amount was transferred to Rawat's bank account. However, when Rawat appeared before court during trial of the case on June 2, 2025, she backtracked from her statement. "Pooja Rawat apprised the court that under pressure from advocate Parmanand Gupta she gave the false statement to the investigating officer," advocate Mishra said. "She also apprised the court that no such incident had taken place as mentioned in the FIR," he added. "Pooja Rawat also apprised the court that Parmanand Gupta also took away Rs 75000 from her which she got from the state government as compensation," Mishra said. Delivering the judgment, the court convicted Parmanand Gupta under Sections 193, 420 IPC, and Section 3(2)(v) of the SC/ST Act. The court has sentenced him to three years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 under Section 193 IPC. In default of payment of fine, he will have to serve an additional imprisonment for three months. The court sentenced Gupta to four years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 under Section 420 IPC. In default of payment of fine, he will undergo additional imprisonment for six months. The court sentenced Gupta to five years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 25,000 under Section 3(2)(v) of the SC/ST Act. In default of payment of fine, he will face additional imprisonment for six months. The sentences will run consecutively and the total imprisonment period will be 12 years. The court has also directed that the period already spent in jail will be set off against the sentence. The court acquitted all four accused of the charges under various sections of the IPC and the SC/ST Act....