Lucknow: Samawadi party MLA Abdullah Khan was disqualified from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday following his conviction in a 15-year-old case in which he has been sentenced to a two-year imprisonment.
According to the Representation of the People Act, which states offenses that can lead to disqualification of legislators, confirmed that anyone sentenced to imprisonment of two years or more shall be disqualified ‘from the date of such conviction’ and remain disqualified for another six years after serving time in jail.
This is Khan’s second disqualification from the Assembly and comes months after his father and senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan was disqualified from the legislature after his conviction in a hate speech case. The junior Khan represented Suar in Rampur district in the Assembly.
“Abdullah Azam Khan has been disqualified following the Moradabad court order sentencing him to two years (in jail) in a 15-year-old case. His seat has been declared vacant from February 13,” a senior official of the Assembly said. On Monday, the Moradabad court awarded the jail term to Abdullah Azam Khan and his father in the 2008 case.
They were sentenced under section 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and other provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) over a dharna on a state highway on January 29, 2008 as their cavalcade was stopped by police for checking in the wake of an attack on a CRPF camp in Rampur on December 31, 2007. The court has, however, granted bail to both of them.
