LUCKNOW: The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge (Gangster/MP-MLA Court) in Mau district on Saturday dismissed the appeal of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s son and former MLA Abbas Ansari against his conviction in a 2022 hate speech case.
However, the court allowed further hearings on the plea challenging the quantum of the two-year sentence awarded to Ansari. The CJM (MP-MLA) court will hear the plea on July 25.
Meanwhile, Abbas Ansari and his co-accused Mansoor were granted bail by the court. The court’s decision to hear the plea challenging the quantum of punishment has kept the hopes of the Ansari camp alive regarding the possible restoration of his assembly membership, which was terminated after the CJM court’s order awarding two years' imprisonment to him on May 31.
Abbas was convicted in connection with a hate speech he delivered at a public meeting in Paharpur during the 2022 Assembly election campaign while contesting as a Samajwadi Party-Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party alliance candidate from the Mau Sadar assembly seat. Abbas had won the seat.
After the court delivered its order on Saturday afternoon, Ansari’s advocate Daroga Singh said that Additional District and Sessions Judge (Gangster/MP-MLA Court) Rajeev Kumar Vats dismissed the appeal challenging the conviction in the case.
“However, the court continued the stay against the quantum of punishment sentenced by the CJM (MP-MLA) court. The court fixed July 25 as the next date of hearing. The court also granted bail to Ansari and the co-accused on furnishing bonds of Rs 50,000 each,” Singh said.
Notably, while contesting the assembly election from the Mau Sadar seat, Ansari, in his Paharpur public meeting speech on March 3, 2022, targeted government officers. The video of the speech went viral on social media, leading to the registration of the case the next day.
The co-accused Mansoor, who was the proposer of Ansari in the 2022 assembly election, also received similar punishment from the court.
Ansari emerged victorious in the 2022 assembly polls from the Mau Sadar seat as a Samajwadi Party-Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party alliance candidate. However, he was arrested by the Prayagraj unit of the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case in February 2023 and was behind bars until March this year.