JHANSI, Sept. 13 -- An MP/MLA court in Jhansi on Friday sentenced former Union minister of state Pradeep Jain Aditya and 13 other Congress members to two years' simple imprisonment in a 12-year-old case for blocking national highway in Jhansi during a protest against power crisis. A fine of Rs 8,000 each was also imposed on all the accused who were later released on a personal bond of Rs 20,000 each. They will have to produce surety for obtaining bail within a week. ACJM 1, Anil Kumar 7, sentenced the 14 accused for two years under section 506 of the Indian Penal Code and for six months under section 7 of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, said counsel for the accused Vivek Bajpayi. Both the sentences will run simultaneously. The case dates back to June 11, 2013 when Pradeep Jain Aditya was Union minister of state for rural development in the UPA government while the Samajwadi Party was in power in Uttar Pradesh. In those days, Jhansi district was reeling under long power cuts. Jain along with the then Congress Jhansi district unit chief Naresh Bilhatiya and hundreds of party workers sat on a dharna near Paricha thermal power plant. Later, they blocked the Kanpur highway for hours before they were persuaded to end the protest by the local administration. A named FIR was lodged against Jain, Bilhatiya and 12 others along with hundreds of unknown persons at Baragaon police station under sections 143, 145, 147, 149, 341, 504, 506, 188 and 16 of the IPC and section 7 of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act. Other Congress workers who have been sentenced include Rajive Rai, Rajneesh Srivastava, Naved Khan, Sher Khan, Suhail Jain, Saurabh Jain, Rahul Gupta, Shadab Ahmad, Manoj Kumar, Virendra Singh, Harish Kapoor and Salman Ahmad. Reacting to the verdict, Jain said, "I respect the decision of the court. We had protested for the right cause for the people of Bundelkhand. This region produces ample amount of electricity but our people had to face the long power cuts and the environmental damages caused by the residues of the thermal power plant ashes." He further said they will challenge the verdict. htc...