SC asks media organisations to submit byte of Azam Khan on Bulandshahr gang-rape case

Azam Khan had stoked a controversy in August 2016 when he said that the Bulandshahar highway rape case could be a `political conspiracy`.

New Delhi: In more trouble for Azam Khan, the Supreme Court, Tuesday, asked the media organisations to submit the byte of the powerful Samajwadi Party leader in which he made the statement related to Bulandshahr gang-rape case.

The apex court also directed Khan to submit his response before the bench by November 17.

Khan had stoked a controversy in August 2016 when he said that the Bulandshahar highway rape case could be a ‘political conspiracy to malign the image of the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP government in Uttar Pradesh’.

An SC bench comprising justices Dipak Misra and C Nagappan had taken note of the alleged controversial statement of the UP MLA.

The court framed several constitutional questions including whether a person, holding public office, can give a statement which may create "distrust" in the minds of the victims about a fair probe in the case and whether such a statement can be a part of freedom of speech and expression.

The man, whose wife and daughter were gangraped last month on a highway in Bulandshahr, had on August 13 moved the apex court seeking transfer of the case to Delhi, besides lodging of an FIR against Khan as well as several policemen.

The brutal incident had happened on the night of July 29 when a group of highway robbers stopped the car of a Noida-based family and sexually assaulted the woman and her daughter after dragging them out of the vehicle which had four other occupants.