Chargesheet filed against Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan for insulting Army

Mohd Azam Khan had made the alleged derogatory remarks against armed forces personnel in Rampur last year.

LUCKNOW: In more trouble for senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, the Uttar Pradesh Police on Tuesday filed a chargesheet against him for allegedly making derogatory remarks against Army.

The chargesheet against the SP leader was filed in Moradabad nearly a week after the Yogi Adityanath government gave its go-ahead to the police to press charges against Khan.

The Yogi Adityanath government gave its approval nearly a year after Khan made the alleged insulting remarks on Indian Army.

"The administration has granted the approval to file a chargesheet against former Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan against whom a police complaint was filed for his press statement against the Indian Army on June 27, 2017," Rampur Additional Superintendent of Police Sudha Singh had told the reporters.

A complaint against Khan was filed by Akash Saxena, son of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader under Sections 153A and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code in connection with his provocative speech made last year.

Apart from Saxena's complaint, three other complaints were also registered against Khan over his controversial remark against the Indian Army.

Addressing a meeting of party workers in Rampur, Khan had said that ''women terrorists had been chopping off private parts of Army personnel in order to send a strong message that should leave the entire nation ashamed.''

Khan later claimed that his statement was misconstrued by the media and apologised for his remarks. But, several complaints were filed against him by then. 

Based on the complaints, the police lodged a case on June 30, 2017, and sent a CD with Khan's speech as evidence for forensic analysis. 

The forensic verification confirmed that the CD was authentic.

However, this was not the first time that the SP leader had made controversial remarks. On several occasions in past, Khan had made highly critical remarks against the Narendra Modi-led BJP regime and over the functioning of its top ministers.

Just recently, Azam Khan had appealed to Muslims to stay away from cow and the dairy business for their own safety in the aftermath of the Alwar lynching incident.