Rampur, 15 July: On Saturday, a court in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, convicted senior Samajwadi Party politician and MLA Azam Khan in a hate speech case.
Azam Khan was sentenced to two years in prison by the MP/MLA court for statements he made against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He made the statements while speaking to a crowd in Rampur’s Dhanora in favour of an alliance candidate.
In connection with the hate speech case, Azam Khan was charged at Rampur’s Shahzad Nagar police station. This is considered as a blow for Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi party, which is part of the opposition coalition preparing to take on the governing BJP in the important 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Meanwhile, Azam Khan has been provided “provisional security,” according to police, a day after his Y-category security cover was revoked by the Uttar Pradesh government.
According to the officer, the decision was reconsidered, and it was agreed to provide Khan with security coverage at the district level.
“This isn’t a Y-category security cover. Three gunners will be provided to him under this arrangement,” a police official stated. The Samajwadi Party called the security disengagement procedure “undemocratic” and said Azam Khan’s life was still in danger.
The Samajwadi Party MLA was acquitted in May of this year in another 2019 hate speech case for which he was sentenced in October.
During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Azam Khan allegedly made disparaging statements about Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The Rampur court sentenced him to three years in jail and disqualified him from the UP legislature.
Following that, Azam Khan filed an appeal before the MP/MLA court, disputing the Rampur court’s decision. After hearing the appeal, the court found him not guilty of the allegations brought against him.
