RAMPUR – The district magistrate of Rampur has sent a proposal to the UP government to file an appeal before the high court, challenging the acquittal of senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mohd Azam Khan.
The proposal has been sent by Rampur district magistrate Ravindra Singh Mandher on Saturday.
The district court had recently set aside Azam Khan’s conviction by a lower court which resulted in the MLA’s disqualification from the state.
Mandher told reporters, “We were not convinced with the court order and have sent a proposal to the government and they will assign the counsel to file the appeal in Allahabad HC. The government will direct the state counsel to take further steps in this case.”
The MP/MLA sessions judge had stated the then Rampur district magistrate Aunjaneya Singh had “put pressure on complainant Anil Kumar Chauhan to file a case”.
Singh, currently posted as the divisional commissioner in Moradabad, said, “The court has set aside the lower court judgment on the basis of technical issues. Here, in this case, it was the duty of the video team in-charge (complainant Anil Kumar Chauhan) to monitor all the speeches, review them and take action by informing it to the returning officer (RO) in case of anything objectionable. In this case, there was an objectionable remark and I was duty-bound to order Chauhan to file an FIR as he was the responsible person to file a complaint. I took steps as per the guidelines of the Election Commission of India.”
He further said, “The judgment should be challenged in the HC since the district court overlooked the objectionable contents of the speech.”
Meanwhile, to express solidarity with Azam, a 21-member SP delegation sent by party chief Akhilesh Yadav met the Rampur district magistrate on Saturday.
“The members said that Azam has been framed in 108 cases and asked the district magistrate to ensure transparent probe in all the cases and take action against Aunjaneya Singh,” Samajwadi Party MP, S.T. Hasan, said.
He further said, “A leader who built a university has been booked for stealing goats and books. Every single person in Rampur is aware that Azam was framed in fake cases.” -IANS
