Azam convicted in hate speech case, may lose MLA status

LUCKNOW: A court designated to try parliamentarians and legislators on Thursday convicted Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan in a 2019 hate speech case and sentenced him to three years, which experts said could result in him losing his states as an MLA. The court granted him bail and seven days to file an appeal against the verdict. The MP/MLA court in Rampur found Khan guilty of hate speech during the 2019 general election campaign against then Rampur district magistrate Aunjaneya Kumar Singh, chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress candidate Sanjay Kapoor. Khan was present in court when additional chief judicial magistrate Nishant Maan pronounced the sentence.

“This was the maximum punishment in this case and bail was a mandatory provision…I have firm belief in justice,” Khan said outside court.

On April 9, an FIR was lodged against him in Rampur by BJP leader Akash Saxena for the provocative speech. The FIR was lodged under sections 153a and 505-1 of the Indian Penal Code, along with section 125 of the Representation of the People Act 1951. Experts said the conviction threatened his MLA status. “After conviction by the trial court and prison term of two years or more, an MLA or MP loses membership of the state assembly or Parliament,” said Gyan Singh Chauhan, senior advocate of the Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court.