Court

Man gets suspended sentence for false declaration

April 6, 2019 4:45 pm

A man convicted of making false declaration when applying to register as a voter has been handed partial jail term by the Suva Magistrates court.

Rajneel Pratap Sobha pleaded guilty to one count of false declaration on an application for voter registration, one count of false declaration on an application for replacement of electronic voter registration card and one count of applying to be registered as a voter on more than one occasion.

In July 2016, in Ba, while filling a voter registration form Sobha state that his name was Rajneel Malhotra and gave a false date of birth before submitting the form to the Fiji Elections Officials.

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On the second occasion in June 2017, in Nadi, he made a false declaration while applying for the replacement of electronic voter registration card.

The Court heard he filled the form stating his name was Rajneel Malhotra and gave a false date of birth – in order to be issued with an upgraded voter card.

And in October 2017, in Suva, he applied to be registered as a voter under the name of Rajneel Pratap Sobha while having been registered as Rajneel Rajiv Malhotra.

He has been sentenced to 22 months.

Of this 10 months has been suspended for five years and he has to serve the remaining 12 months in prison.