TSIT ■ Rampur
In a setback to senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and former MLA Mohammad Azam Khan, the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge (MP-MLA) on Thursday rejected his application to stay his conviction in the hate speech case.
The application was rejected by the court of ADJ Alok Dubey. Appearing on the behalf of Azam, former Advocate General Imran Ullah argued in the court and cited previous decisions. He said he attracted the attention of the court towards irregularities and illegal provisions.
Prosecution Officer MP-MLA court Amarnath Tiwari said the court refused to stay the conviction of Azam in this case. He said stay is granted in rarest of rare cases and the court did not consider it one of them and on the basis of which Azam’s application was rejected. On behalf of the Union Government Additional Solicitor General Garima Singh also argued in the court. Special Prosecution Officer (SPO) Rakesh Kumar Maurya said after hearing both the sides the MP-MLA court rejected the application of Azam.Notably, on Wednesday the Supreme Court had asked the Rampur court to consider and dispose of SP leader Azam Khan’s plea seeking stay against conviction in hate speech case on Thursday.
The apex court also asked the ECI (Election Commission of India) to defer issuance of gazette notification for declaring poll schedule for Rampur Constituency and issue it on or after November 11 depending on the session court’s order for stay of conviction. The apex court in its order also said the sessions judge has granted Khan interim bail on an application moved by the SP leader against his conviction.
Following the SC order the notification for the by-polls for Rampur assembly seat, which was to be issued on Thursday, was deferred on Wednesday.Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Uttar Pradesh, Ajay Kumar Shukla, said via a press statement issued by the ECI on November 5 notification for the by-polls for Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat and Rampur assembly seat was to be issued on Thursday.He said in the wake of the order issued by the apex court it has been decided not to issue notification for Rampur seat till further orders. Notably, on October 27 an MP-MLA court in Rampur held Azam Khan guilty.
of giving provocative speech against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the then District Magistrate of Rampur and sentenced him to three years imprisonment along with a penalty of Rs 6,000. The MP-MLA court of ACJM-First Nishant Man had later granted bail to Azam and gave him one week’s time to appeal in the higher court.
Azam was accused of making indecent comments against PM Modi and the then DM during an election rally in Milak during Lok Sabha polls.
Agriculture Development Officer (ADO) Anil Kumar Chauhan had lodged an FIR against Azam in this connection at Milak police station in 2019.
At that time ADO Chauhan was posted as the in-charge of the video monitoring section. After being convicted Azam Khan has been disqualified from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
