Vikrant Shekhawat : Jul 29, 2024, 05:17 PM
Allahabad High Court: Samajwadi Party MP Afzal Ansari has got a big relief from Allahabad High Court. The High Court has canceled the decision of Ghazipur MP MLA Court in the gangster case. Ghazipur MP MLA Court had sentenced Afzal to four years imprisonment. Afzal had challenged the decision of Ghazipur MP MLA Court in Allahabad High Court and now the High Court has given the verdict in his favor. Allahabad High Court had reserved the decision on Afzal Ansari's criminal appeal on July 4.This case against Afzal was registered after the murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai in 2005. Along with the current criminal appeal, this court was also hearing the appeal of the state government and Krishnanand Rai's son Piyush Rai to increase Afzal's sentence in the same case. This appeal is important in the sense that if Afzal's conviction was upheld, he would have lost his MP status as he was sentenced to more than two years of imprisonment. Now with the sentence being canceled, he will remain an MP.Won Lok Sabha election from Ghazipur seat in 2024Afzal Ansari won the election from Ghazipur seat on Samajwadi Party ticket in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. On April 29, 2023, the MP-MLA court of Ghazipur convicted Afzal in the Gangster Act case and sentenced him to four years in jail and also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh. The court convicted Afzal's brother Mukhtar Ansari and sentenced him to 10 years in jail. After this, Afzal became disqualified as an MP, after which he filed the present criminal appeal in the High Court.Supreme Court had granted bailThe High Court granted bail to Afzal on July 24, 2023, but refused to stay his conviction in the case. As a result, his membership of MP was not restored. Also, he became ineligible to contest elections in future, as the sentence awarded to him was more than two years. Later, the Supreme Court stayed his conviction, as a result of which his membership of Parliament was restored and he became eligible to contest Lok Sabha elections. However, the Supreme Court directed for speedy hearing of the criminal appeal pending in the High Court.