New Delhi: Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan was today acquitted by the Uttar Pradesh court in the 2019 hate speech case. A Rampur court set aside a lower court’s verdict last year that convicted the Samajwadi leader of making hate speech against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The Samajwadi leader had accused the Prime Minister of creating a difficult environment for Muslims to exist in the country.

Following the 2022 verdict, Khan was disqualified as an MLA.

A public prosecutor in the case said the special court accepted the appeal filed against Khan’s conviction.

Khan’s lawyer Vinod Sharma said, “We have been acquitted of the hate speech case. We are happy that justice has been served.” “Our contention that we were arrested in this case has been upheld by the court and the verdict is in our favour,” Sharma added.
After the disqualification of Khan’s MLA, a by-election was held in the Rampur Sadar constituency. BJP candidate Akash Saxena defeated Samajwadi Party’s Azim Raja, a close aide of Khan.

Azam Khan has a strong following in Rampur and other parts of western Uttar Pradesh.

Since the BJP came to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, the Samajwadi leader has been accused of 87 cases ranging from corruption and theft to land grabbing.