Samajwadi Party MLA and one of the vocal critics of BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, Abdullah Azam Khan, was disqualified from the UP Assembly on Wednesday, two days after a court sentenced him to two-year imprisonment in a 15-year-old case.
Two days before Abdullah Azam was convicted by a special court along with his father and founder member of Samajwadi Party Azam Khan in a 2008 case in which they were booked for blocking traffic after their vehicle was stopped by the police for checking in Moradabad.
However, The court had granted bail to both of them.
“Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan, member of Vidhan Sabha, Suar seat, district Rampur has been convicted in a case lodged in 2008 at Chhajlet police station, Moradabad district by the Additional Judicial Magistrate under IPC section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 341 (wrongful restraint) and under section 7 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act for two years in prison along with a fine of Rs 3,000,” read order passed by the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat on Wednesday.
This is the second time that Abdullah Azam was disqualified from the Assembly. The young SP leader was earlier disqualified from the Assembly in 2020 after the Allahabad High Court had set aside his election. The High Court had disqualified him as he was below 25 years of age when he had filed his nomination papers as the SP candidate from Suar in 2017.
This is also the second case in which veteran leader and Abdullah Azam’s father Azam Khan has been convicted. In October last year, he was convicted to three years’ imprisonment in a hate speech case lodged during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. After the verdict, the Rampur Assembly seat, which he represented, was declared vacant.
Azam Khan family and SP have been alleging that they were targeted by Yogi Adityanath government over their criticisms against the Hindu nationalist government.