Lucknow: Samajwadi Party leader Mohammad Azam Khan, who was sentenced to three years imprisonment in connection with hate speech case, was disqualified from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
The UP Assembly Speaker took the action against Khan after he was convicted by a local court on Thursday regarding a hate speech hea had made targeting Prime Minister Modi.
A Designated Court in Rampur had held him guilty of hate speech targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during an election campaign in 2019.
The 74-year-old Khan was granted bail and given a week’s time to appeal against the sentence in higher court.
His disqualification was imminent because the rule is clear that if a lawmaker is sentenced to more than two years in jail he or she loses his legislative membership.
Azam Khan has been convicted for a hate speech against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the then Rampur District Magistrate, Aunjaneya Kumar Singh, during an election rally in 2019. A case was registered against him at Milak Kotwali in Rampur on April 9, 2019, under sections 153a (promoting enmity between two groups), 505-1 (statement conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code along with Section 125 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
The Samajwadi Party leader had accused the prime minister of creating an atmosphere in the country in which Muslims found it difficult to live.
