PRAYAGRAJ — Former MLA Abbas Ansari, son of deceased Mukhtar Ansari, suffered a setback on Wednesday after the Allahabad High Court dismissed his petition challenging the validity of a CD that formed key evidence in a hate speech case.
The CD had led to his conviction and a two-year prison sentence by a lower court.
A single-judge Bench of Justice Samit Gopal refused to intervene, directing Ansari to raise his objections regarding the CD and the accompanying forensic report in the Sessions Court, where his appeal is pending.
In his petition, Ansari claimed that his speech was misrepresented and that the video evidence had been distorted. However, the High Court declined to grant him any relief.
The hate speech case dates back to March 3, 2022, during the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election campaign, when Abbas Ansari, then a candidate from Mau Sadar, allegedly made inflammatory remarks targeting government officials.
A video of his speech went viral, prompting a complaint by Inspector Gangaram Bind and the subsequent filing of an FIR at Mau Kotwali police station.
In his speech, Ansari had reportedly said that if Akhilesh Yadav’s government came to power in Uttar Pradesh, officials would be held accountable before being transferred.
The Election Commission took cognisance of the remarks and initiated action.
On May 31, the MP-MLA court in Mau sentenced him to two years in prison, resulting in the termination of his Assembly membership.
Under the Representation of People Act, the membership of any lawmaker sentenced to two years or more of imprisonment stands automatically terminated.
Ansari has since been seeking legal remedies, but the High Court has now asked him to pursue the matter through the appellate process.
Ansari became MLA for the first time in the 2022 Assembly elections from the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), then an ally of the Samajwadi Party, but which is now a part of the BJP-led coalition government in Uttar Pradesh. –IANS
