The MP/MLA Court in Mau sentenced Abbas Ansari, son of the late mafia don Mukhtar Ansari and sitting MLA, to two years of imprisonment in a hate speech case on Saturday.

The court also imposed a fine of ₹3,000 on him. In the same case, the court convicted Mansoor, Abbas Ansari’s election agent. The court sentenced him to six months of imprisonment and fined him ₹1,000.

The court, however, acquitted Umar Ansari, the younger son of Mukhtar Ansari, who also faced charges in the case. The sentence will not affect Abbas Ansari’s membership in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, since the imprisonment term is only two years.

Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Dr KP Singh delivered the verdict. The case is related to the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

Abbas Ansari had contested from the Sadar Assembly seat on a Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) ticket. He allegedly gave a hate speech during a public rally at Paharpur Maidan on March 3, 2022.

In his controversial speech, Abbas allegedly said: “I have told SP chief Akhilesh Yadav that no officials in the district will be transferred for six months after the formation of the government. Wherever they are posted, they will remain there. First, they will be punished for their misdeeds, and only then they will be transferred.”

The court convicted Abbas Ansari under Sections 120B, 153A, 189, 171F, and 506 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). After the verdict, Abbas Ansari spoke to the media. He announced that he would challenge the decision in the Allahabad High Court.

He also claimed that the court did not give him enough opportunity to present his side during the hearing.