Rampur: After the Special MP/MLA Sessions Court acquitted senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan in the 2019 hate speech case, a new twist has come to the light in the case after the complainant who had filed the FIR said he was pressurized to file the case. Azam Khan was acquitted by the MP/MLA Court on Wednesday.
In the 66-page verdict, the court referred to the statement by the complainant identified as Anil Kumar Chauhan, the officer who lodged the FIR for the alleged hate speech against Azam Khan. Chauhan had recorded the statement during cross-examination in the trial court.
Also read: SP leader Azam Khan acquitted in 2019 hate speech case
Anil Kumar Chauhan's statement: In his statement, Chauhan said, “Seeing and listening to the speech in the CD, I felt that the speech given by the public representative is going to create enmity among the people, to make Hindu-Muslim fight. He is going to give dirty abuses to the leaders and officers. He is going to violate the code of conduct, which I had written under the pressure of the District Election Officer.
After observing the CD, it was written on the basis of the things that were in the CD”. Azam Khan's lawyer Vinod Sharma said that a case was registered against Khan in Milak police station under FIR number 185/2019. Khan was convicted by the lower court in the case and was acquitted by the MP/MLA court on Wednesday.
Sharma said that his client Khan has been falsely implicated and the appeal court accepted their plea and acquitted Khan. Pertinently, Aunjenaya Kumar Singh was the District Magistrate at the time the case was filed against Khan in 2019. Khan is said to have been at loggerheads with Singh at the time.
