SP leader Azam Khan gets two-year jail term in hate speech case

Senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and party General Secretary Azam Khan was on Saturday sentenced to two years' imprisonment by a court in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur town in a hate speech case.

The MP/MLA Court (magistrate trial) found Khan guilty of hate speech delivered while campaigning in the Rampur Lok Sabha constituency in the 2019 general elections. He was convicted under different sections of the IPC, including 505 (1) (b) (intent to cause or which is likely to cause fear or alarm to the public).

The prosecution had contended that Azam Khan had made objectionable remarks against UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the district magistrate of Rampur at an election rally in the constituency. A case was later lodged against Azam Khan at the Shehzad Nagar police station. 

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Earlier, Khan had been convicted in a hate speech case registered against him in connection with another speech and had been sentenced to three years' imprisonment. He lost his membership of the UP legislature after the conviction. Khan was however acquitted in the case by an MP/MLA Court (session trial) last year. A by-poll was later held at the Rampur Sadar seat in which BJP nominee Akash Saxena defeated the SP candidate. 

Khan had been charged with making an objectionable speech during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections while campaigning. The prosecution had contended that he had tried to incite communal hatred and also threatened the then district magistrate.

Khan was then a joint candidate of the SP-BSP alliance from the Rampur LS seat. He had won the poll but had later resigned his seat after winning the assembly poll from Rampur. Khan is already facing dozens of cases, including those of land grabbing, theft and misusing his office during SP rule in the state.