UP government allows police to file chargesheet against Azam Khan for insulting Army

A complaint was filed against Azam Khan under Sections 153A and 505 of the IPC for allegedly insulting the Army.

RAMPUR: Spelling trouble for senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan, the Uttar Pradesh government has allowed the authorities to file a chargesheet against him for making the alleged derogatory remarks on the armed forces.

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 told reporters.

A complaint 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 this regard last year.

Apart from Saxena's complaint, three other complaints were 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. 

The SP leader had again courted another controversy in June last year when he said that Indian soldiers have been indulging in rape in J&K.

However, this is not the first time that the SP leader has made controversial remarks. On several occasions in past, Khan has 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.