Lucknow, Apr 12 (PTI) A special MP/MLA court on Monday deferred framing of charges against BSP MLA Mukhtar Ansari and his associates till April 19 in a 21-year-old case of alleged manhandling of jail officials by them.

Special judge P K Rai passed the order as neither Ansari nor the other accused persons--Yusuf Chisti, Aalam, Kallu Pundit and Lalji Yadav--appeared before the court.

While Chisti and Aalam are in judicial custody, Pundit and Yadav are on bail.

An FIR in the matter was registered by the then jailor S N Dwivedi at the Alambagh Police Station in Lucknow on April 3, 2000.

According to the FIR, Ansari's men assaulted some detainees, who were brought back to jail after their hearing in a court. When the police intervened, the accused also beat them up.

A charge sheet was filed against all the accused by the police.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)