Court dismisses sedition case against Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan

BADAUN: A local court here has dismissed a sedition case lodged against Samajwadi Party leader Mohd Azam Khan for allegedly making controversial remarks on Kashmir.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Amarjeet Singh dismissed the case yesterday and rejected the final report filed by the police in the matter.

The case was registered against Khan by Bajrang Dal leader Ujjawal Gupta for his alleged controversial comments on Kashmir on December 21, 2010.

The investigating officer had filed a final report in the case on May 5, 2012, against which Gupta had moved a protest application on January 8, 2013.

On May 24, 2013, the court rejected the final report and said it was false and was based on baseless facts to get desired results.

It directed a re-investigation, asking police to obtain original recording from the media and make it a part of the probe.

Following the court's judgment, Gupta said he will approach the high court against the decision.

Khan had come under attack from the Congress and the BJP for his controversial remarks on the status of Jammu and Kashmir.

While the Congress had slammed Khan for his reported comment that senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad belonged to Kashmir and not India, and for questioning the status of the state, the BJP had demanded action against him.

Dubbing his remark as "anti-national", the UP unit of the BJP had demanded that Khan should be booked for the offence.