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Allahabad HC junks Azam Khan’s earlier plea in hate speech case
The Allahabad high court has dismissed a petition as being “infructuous” filed by senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan in the 2019 hate speech case before his conviction in the case that led to his disqualification from the Uttar Pradesh assembly last month
The Allahabad high court has dismissed a petition as being “infructuous” filed by senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan in the 2019 hate speech case before his conviction in the case that led to his disqualification from the Uttar Pradesh assembly last month.
Khan had filed the petition in the high court under section 482 (inherent powers of high court) of the criminal procedure code on October 10 seeking stay on the trial of the case that was undergoing then. The petition was dismissed on November 9.
On October 27, the additional chief judicial magistrate, special MP/MLA court, Rampur, had convicted Khan in the hate speech case and awarded a three-year jail term to him. The court had also slapped a fine of ₹6,000 on him.
Dismissing the petition as being “infructuous”, Justice Samit Gopal in his decision said, “The counsel for the applicant states that the present application has become infructuous, as the trial in the matter has concluded and a judgment has been pronounced on October 27, 2022. As prayed, the present application is dismissed as infructuous”.
Earlier, a case was registered against the senior SP leader at Milak Kotwali in Rampur on April 9, 2019, for allegedly giving a provocative speech against chief minister Yogi Adityanath, other top BJP leaders and IAS officer Aunjaneya Kumar Singh, the then district magistrate of Rampur. The issue was first raised by advocate Akash Saxena, a BJP member.
Subsequently, Azam was booked under sections 153-A (promoting enmity), 505-1 (public mischief) of Indian Penal Code along with section 125 of the Representation of People Act 1951.
