Lucknow: Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan was disqualified from Legislative Assembly on Friday, a day after a court sentenced him to three years in jail in a hate speech case. Principal Secretary of the UP Legislative Assembly Pradeep Dubey told the media that the Assembly Secretariat declared the Rampur Sadar Assembly seat vacant.
"A vacancy has been declared by the UP Vidhan Sabha Secretariat consequent upon the disqualification due to the judgment passed by the court," he said. The Rampur MP-MLA court had on Thursday convicted Khan in a 2019 hate speech case and sentenced him to three years of imprisonment.
The Representation of the People Act says 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.
Also read: SP leader Azam Khan convicted in hate speech case gets bail
The SP leader was on Thursday convicted by Rampur court and sentenced to 3 years in jail in Uttar Pradesh for a hate speech case filed against him over his comments against state Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. However, the court granted bail to the Rampur MLA, allowing him time to file an appeal in a higher court.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on Khan. The case was registered against Khan in Rampur in April 2019, for allegedly making provocative remarks against the Uttar Pradesh CM and the then District Magistrate of Rampur, Anjaneya Kumar Singh.
The Special MP/MLA court of Rampur found Khan guilty under Section 153-A (inciting religious feelings), 505-A (giving false statement intended to create feelings of enmity, hatred, or animosity between different communities) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 125 (promoting animosity between different classes in connection with elections) of the Representation of the People Act.
