UP Court Acquits Samajwadi Party MLA Azam Khan In Hate Speech Case

India

oi-Prakash KL

A court in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday acquitted Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan in a hate speech case filed against him over comments against UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in 2019.

“We have been acquitted in the hate speech case. We are happy that we have got justice,” Khan’s counsel Vinod Sharma told PTI. He said that the court upheld their contention that the SP leader was “framed” in the case.

Quoting various judgements by Supreme Court in similar cases, the district court overturned the verdict of a lower court, which had found Azam Khan guilty last year, according to a report in The Times of India.

A court on October 27, 2022 sentenced Khan, the then SP MLA from the Rampur Sadar seat, in the case. Following this, Khan was disqualified as an MLA.

After Khan’s membership to the assembly was disqualified, a by-election was held in the Rampur Sadar seat. BJP candidate Akash Saxena defeated the SP’s Asim Raja, a close aide of Khan, in the polls.

However, his seat cannot be restored as he was convicted in another case by a Moradabad court earlier this year.