Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan gets 3 years in jail: What you need to know about the case

Samajwadi Party's senior leader and Rampur MLA Azam Khan has been sentenced to three years in jail and slapped with Rs 2,000 fine in a hate speech case filed against him in 2019. The MPand MLA court in UP's Rampur had earlier in the day convicted Khan in the case. Now, it has announced the quantum of punishment in the case.

Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan & 2 other accused sentenced to 3 years in prison along with a fine of Rs 2000 in the hate speech case of 2019. pic.twitter.com/TZGRB5j6FO

— ANI (@ANI) October 27, 2022

What the verdict means for Khan: With nearly three years of imprisonment, Khan will also now have to tender resignation from his MLA post. He had won the seat in 2022 against BJP candidate Akash Saxena.

• Khan will lose his MLA seat because as per a Supreme Court judgment dated July 10, 2013, if any MLA, MLC or MP is convicted for two or more years, then he/she loses membership of the house with immediate effect. The maximum imprisonment which has been given to Azam Khan in the section 153 a and section 505 is up to three years.
• Azam Khan now has three seven days to appeal against the judgment in a higher court. 
• On October 21, the court had completed its hearings in the case and the judgment had to be pronounced on October 27. Khan was earlier convicted by the court.

What was the case? An FIR was filed against Azam Khan by BJP leader Akash Saxena for making provocative remarks against UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and IAS officer Aunjaneya Kumar Singh, the then DM of Rampur in 2019.

The FIR was filed under section 153a (promoting enmity between two groups), 505-1 (statement conducting to public mischief) and section 125 of the Representation of People Act 1951.

What Khan had said: Azam Khan while campaigning for the SP-BSP coalition in 2019 had called the DM a salaried guy and asked the people not to be scared of him.

"Dekhi hai Mayawati ji ki photo, kaisi bade-bade afsar  rumaal nikal ke joote saaf kar rahe hai...haan unhi se hai gathbandhan. unhi se joote saaf karaonga inse Allah ne chaha (Haven't you seen photos where big government officers are seen wiping the shoes of Mayawati ji. Yes, we have tie-up with Mayawati only this time. Will make them again wipe Mayawati's shoes, if God wills," Azam Khan had said in the video. 

• Azam was then contesting as an MP from the Rampur seat against BJP's Jaya Prada. Khan had won the election with a huge majority.
• In February 2020, Azam Khan was convicted in the land-grabbing case by the Rampur court and he had to spend nearly 2 years in jail.
• Not only Khan, his wife Tazeen Fatima and son Abdullah Azam were also jailed for different cases.
• Khan contested as an MLA in the UP state assembly election from jail only.
• He defeated BJP's Akash Saxena and Congress's Kazim Ali Khan.
• Khan finally walked out of jail when he got a bail from Supreme Court in May, 2022. 
• By the time, the SP veteran leader was in jail, there were nearly 90 cases of corruption and theft lodged against him.