SC defers hearing Mukhtar Ansari's plea against conviction in Allahabad HC

New Delhi: Observing that Mukhtar Ansari is a "dreaded criminal", the Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred its hearing on a plea by the gangster-politician against an order of the Allahabad High Court sentencing him to five-year jail term in a 24-year-old case.

A bench comprising Justices Bela M Trivedi and Pankaj Mithal adjourned the hearing on Ansari’s plea on Tuesday. "He is a dreaded criminal. There are so many cases," the bench observed.

Senior advocate Garima Prasad, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, said Ansari had spread "a reign of terror" in the state, to which the bench said, “he is behind bars now”.

Last year on October 13, the top court had sought the response from the Uttar Pradesh government on Ansari’s appeal against the high court order.

Prior to this, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on September 23 had overturned Ansari’s acquittal and sentenced him to a five-year jail term in a case related to the Gangster Act.

The high court had also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Ansari as it overturned the acquittal order by a special MP-MLA court in 2020.

The FIR was lodged with Lucknow's Hazratganj police in 1999 under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act.

A special court had acquitted Ansari in 2020. The state filed an appeal against acquittal in 2021.

The special court had acquitted Ansari, a five-time MLA from Mau Sadar constituency, stating that the “prosecution could not prove the offence against him beyond reasonable doubt”.