SC issues notice to UP govt on Mukhtar Ansari's plea challenging 5-year imprisonment in Gangster Act case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday sought a response from the Uttar Pradesh government on an appeal filed by gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari challenging an order of the Allahabad High Court sentencing him to five-year imprisonment in a 23-year-old case related to the Gangster Act.

A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi issued notice to the state government on the plea filed by Ansari.

The high court reversed Ansari's acquittal in the case by a special Lucknow MP-MLA court in December 2020 on an appeal filed by the state government.

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”.