Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha was on Tuesday sent to jail by a court in a case of alleged assault of an electricity official whose hands were tied during protests against blackouts in Jharkhand.

Judicial Magistrate R.B. Pal sent Mr. Sinha and 54 others to judicial custody for 14 days after they refused to take bail.

Mr. Sinha and 300 others were arrested on Monday after Jharkhand State Electricity Board’s (JSEB) Hazaribagh branch General Manager Dhanesh Jha filed an FIR accusing them of tying him up during a demonstration on electricity crisis by the BJP’s district unit here.

Mr. Sinha had admitted before the media yesterday that he had “instructed” the party’s women activists to tie up Mr. Jha using a rope.

“Yes, I asked them to tie the hands of the GM as women are the worst sufferers for not getting power. Their children’s education is also suffering,” Mr. Sinha had told reporters.

A senior police officer had rescued Jha from the women. The women questioned Jha as to why Hazariabagh and Ramgarh districts reeled in power crisis, police said.