Abbas Ansari seeks stay on sentence in hate speech case; hearing likely on Tuesday

Mau (UP), Jun 9 (PTI) Gangster turned politician Mukhtar Ansari's son Abbas Ansari, who was recently convicted for delivering a hate speech and disqualified from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, has filed an appeal in the district court seeking a stay on the two-year sentence awarded to him in the case.

The court has agreed to hear Abbas Ansari's appeal and listed the matter for hearing on Tuesday, June 10, lawyers said.

Ansari, a former Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) MLA from the Mau Sadar Assembly seat, lost his assembly membership following the May 31 conviction by a local court for making inflammatory remarks during the 2022 assembly election campaign.

According to local lawyers, the appeal against the sentence was filed on Monday in the court of the District and Sessions Judge by Ansari's counsel Daroga Singh. The appeal also seeks a stay on the execution of the sentence.

District Judge Sunil Kumar directed that a notice be issued to the respondents. He transferred the case for hearing to Special Judge (MP/MLA Court) Rajeev Kumar Vats. The matter has been scheduled for hearing on June 10.

According to the prosecution, Abbas Ansari, contesting the 2022 assembly elections as an SBSP candidate from Mau Sadar, had made provocative remarks during a public rally at Pahadpur on March 3, 2022. He allegedly threatened to "teach the Mau administration a lesson" after the elections.

The FIR against Ansari was filed under multiple sections of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code, including Section 189 (threat of injury to public servant), 153A (promoting enmity between groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language), 171F (undue influence in elections), and 506 (criminal intimidation).

A senior Assembly official had told PTI that following his conviction, Ansari's membership has been terminated and the Mau Sadar seat has been declared vacant.

Abbas Ansari was elected MLA for the first time in 2022 from the Mau Sadar seat on an SBSP ticket as part of the Samajwadi Party-led alliance. The SBSP is currently an ally in the ruling BJP-led government in Uttar Pradesh, and its president holds a cabinet post.

Before Abbas, the seat was held five times consecutively from 1996 by his father Mukhtar Ansari. PTI COR KIS RT RT