HC to hear state counsels’ arguments on Afzal plea today
On Tuesday, the counsels representing Afzal Ansari, senior advocate GS Chaturvedi and Upendra Upadhyay argued that there were total seven accused in Krishna Nand Rai murder case but only three, including Afzal Ansari, his brother Mukhtar and another , who were politically active, were selectively booked under the Gangsters’ Act.
PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad will on Wednesday continue to hear a criminal appeal filed by Ghazipur MP Afzal Ansari challenging his conviction and sentence in a Gangsters’ Act case by a trial court of Ghazipur.
After hearing the appellant’s counsel, justice Sanjay Kumar Singh directed to continue hearing of this criminal appeal on Wednesday (May 22). Now the court will hear the arguments advanced by the team of state government’s counsels.
Along with this present criminal appeal, this court is also hearing connected UP govt’s appeal seeking enhancement of sentence of Afzal in the same case and criminal revision filed by Piyush Rai, son of Krishnanand Rai, also seeking enhancement of sentence.
On Tuesday, the counsels representing Afzal Ansari, senior advocate GS Chaturvedi and Upendra Upadhyay argued that there were total seven accused in Krishna Nand Rai murder case but only three, including Afzal Ansari, his brother Mukhtar and another , who were politically active, were selectively booked under the Gangsters’ Act. Secondly, they had been acquitted in Krishna Nand Rai murder case. “Once they have been acquitted in the main case, they cannot be convicted in the subsequently imposed Gangsters’ Act case. Besides, the witnesses are the same in both cases,” said Afzal’s counsels.
On April 29, 2023, an MP-MLA court of Ghazipur had convicted Afzal and sentenced him to four years’ jail term, along with a fine of ₹1 lakh in the Gangsters’ Act case. His younger brother Mukhtar Ansari too was sentenced to 10 years in jail in the case.
Following this, Afjal was disqualified as an MP. Thereafter, he filed the present criminal appeal before the high court.
On July 24, 2023, the HC had granted bail to the five-time MLA and two-time MP but declined to stay his conviction in the case. As a result, though Afzal was released from jail, his membership of Parliament was not restored. Further, he also became disqualified to contest future polls as the sentence awarded was more than two years.
However, later the SC stayed his conviction. As a result, his membership of Parliament was restored and he also became eligible to contest the Lok Sabha elections. However, the apex court directed to expedite the hearing of this criminal appeal pending before the high court and asked it to decide the case by June 30.
