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

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.

The lower court in October 2022 had imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 along with a jail sentence of three years for Khan. Following this, he 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.

The case was filed against Khan on April 9, 2019, at Milak Kotwali in Rampur for a provocative speech targeting Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, as well as other prominent leaders of the BJP.

Advocate Akash Saxena, a member of the BJP, initially brought up the matter. Azam Khan was charged under IPC sections 153-A (promoting enmity) and 505-1 (public mischief), in addition to section 125 of the Representation of People Act 1951.

Since the BJP came into power in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, the former Samajwadi Party legislator has been booked in 87 cases.