A local court in Rampur has acquitted Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan in a 2019 hate speech case, which had led to his disqualification from the Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh in October, 2022.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Amit Veer Singh on Wednesday set aside the Special MP/MLA court in Rampur, which had convicted and sentenced Khan to three years in jail for making provocative remarks against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, other BJP leaders and the then DM of Rampur, IAS officer Anjaneya Kumar Singh, during the campaigning of Lok Sabha elections in 2019.
On April 9, 2019, a case was registered against Khan in Rampur for delivering a hate speech.
He was convicted under Sections 153a (promoting enmity between two groups), 505 (statement conducing to public mischief) of IPC and Section 125 of the Representation of People Act 1951. An FIR was lodged against him after the Returning Officer took cognisance of a complaint made against Khan in this regard.
After Khan was disqualified from the UP Assembly, a by-election was held in the Rampur Sadar seat. BJP candidate Akash Saxena defeated SP’s Asim Raja, a close aide of Khan, in the polls.
The Uttar Pradesh leader, who is quite popular in Rampur and parts of western Uttar Pradesh, has a total of 87 cases registered against him. Khan has been named as an accused for offences such as corruption, theft and land grab.