Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan and two other accused in the hate speech case of 2019 have been sentenced to three years in prison along with a fine of ₹2,000. The sentencing of Azam Khan was declared after a court in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur on Thursday convicted the Samajwadi Party (SP) leader in the hate speech case against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

A case was registered against Azam 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.

Azam Khan was in the prison for several months in a land-grabbing case against him. He was later granted bail by the Supreme Court which also criticised the high courts for imposing “extreme conditions" on the accused for bail.

Earlier in a big relief to Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan, the Allahabad High Court put his arrest on hold. The court also sought a reply from the Uttar Pradesh government.

A person named Baqur Khan brought the case to the fore. The matter pertains to the disappearance of machines used for construction in 2017 for which a case was registered on September 19, this year.

Earlier the police had lodged an FIR against Azam Khan and his son, Abdullah Azam and four others under sections 409, 120b (criminal conspiracy) of IPC along with section 2 of the damage to public property Act on the complaint of missing machinery at Rampur's municipal corporation.

Image courtesy: ANI