Lucknow Court Acquits Samajwadi Party Leader Azam Khan In RSS-BJP Defamation Case
A Magistrate Court in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow district on Friday acquitted senior Samajwadi Party leader and former MP Azam Khan in a case related to the alleged misuse of a government letterhead and stamp to malign the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division)/ACJM Alok Verma granted relief to Khan, observing that no clinching evidence was presented and that the prosecution failed to prove the charges against him.
Briefly stated, an FIR was lodged in February 2019 by one Allama Jamir Naqbi, a writer, alleging that in 2014, while serving as a Cabinet Minister, Khan had intentionally written certain letters on his official letterhead and on blank papers containing defamatory remarks against the RSS, BJP and Maulana Sayyed Kalbe Jawwad Naqbi.
The FIR, filed after a delay of five years, further alleged that the contents of those letters were published in national newspapers and broadcast on TV news channels through Khan's influence and high-level connections.
Khan was booked under Sections 500 (Defamation) and 505 (Statements conducing public mischief) of Indian Penal Code.