Jailed SP leader Azam Khan figures in party’s star campaigners’ list
The inclusion of jailed party leader Mohammad Azam Khan in the list has caught everyone by surprise.
Samajwadi Party national general secretary and former MLA from Rampur Mohammad Azam Khan has got a big relief from the court. He was acquitted in a hate speech case for which he was disqualified from the membership of assembly.
Rampur’s Special MP-MLA Court on Wednesday acquitted the SP leader in the case setting aside the verdict of the magistrate court. The court gave a 70-page verdict quoting several instances of high court and Supreme Court judgements.
But now the question arises how his assembly membership could be revived since already bypolls have been held and BJP leader Akash Saxena has been elected from the constituency a few months back.
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Sources said as the court of Moradabad had sentenced Azam Khan and his son Abdullah Azam to two-year imprisonment in another case his assembly membership is unlikely to be revived. Abdullah Azam was also disqualified from assembly after the conviction and by-elections were held on his seat too.
Earlier on October 27 last, a lower court of Rampur had sentenced Azam Khan to three years imprisonment in the same case for which he has been acquitted today.
After the verdict of the Rampur court, Azam Khan’s lawyer Vinod Sharma said, “The court has found my client innocent in the case and has acquitted him.”
The lower court had found Khan guilty under sections 153A, 505A of IPC and 125 of the RP Act for the provocative speech given during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and had imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 along with the jail sentence for three years. However, shortly after the announcement of the three-year jail sentence, Azam Khan got bail.
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