In October, the Samajwadi Party leader who made comments about Chief Minister Adityanath was sentenced to three years in prison.
The Rampur sessions court granted regular bail to Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan on Tuesday in the 2019 hate speech case.
The Supreme Court extended Khan’s interim bail until November 22, according to the newspaper.
Khan was sentenced to three years in prison on October 27 by a Rampur court for comments he made about Chief Minister Adityanath and former Rampur District Magistrate Aunjaneya Kumar Singh. In October 28, Khan was disqualified from the Rampur Sadar Assembly seat due to his conviction in the hate speech case.
Immediately following his conviction, a MP-MLA court disqualified him from the Legislative Assembly, which he challenged in the Supreme Court.
Khan’s application seeking a stay of his conviction was directed to be heard by the Rampur court on November 7 by the Supreme Court. In addition, Khan’s disqualification proceedings by the Uttar Pradesh Assembly were criticized by the top court. A Rampur court, however, denied the Samajwadi Party leader’s plea to stay his conviction on November 10.
In addition to Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code, which prosecutes “promoting enmity between groups”, Khan also violated Section 505 (1), which relates to rumours or statements intended to cause public alarm, as well as the Representation of the People Act, which codifies the grounds for disqualifying legislators.
As well as corruption and theft, the 10-time MLA from Rampur Sadar faces over 90 other charges.
After being held for over two years in connection with a land-grabbing case, Khan was released from Sitapur jail in May. His interim bail was granted by the Supreme Court in the case where he was accused of illegally acquiring a 13.84-hectare plot in Rampur district for constructing Mohammed Ali Jauhar University.