Sedition case against Azam: Local court rejects closure report second time

The case against Khan was filed on a complaint by Ujjawal Gupta, reportedly the district coordinator of Bajrang Dal in Badaun. The complainant’s lawyer, Rajeev Sharma, said the case was lodged after Khan allegedly said at an agitation in December 2010 in Badaun that “Ghulam Nabi Azad is the lone Muslim minister in the Manmohan Singh government and he is from Kashmir… which is not clear whether it is a part of India or Pakistan”.

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In January, 2011, Gupta filed a petition in a local court seeking direction for registration of an FIR against Khan. He also submitted a copy of the CD containing the alleged recording of Khan’s statement. Gupta had moved court after police refused to file a case based on his complaint.

Following the court’s direction, the police lodged an FIR against Khan under IPC Section 124-A (sedition) at the City Kotwali police station on January 18, 2011. The CD provided by Gupta was sent to the forensic laboratory for examination. In its report, the laboratory reportedly asked the police to provide the original CD for examination.
Gupta said the police filed a closure report in May, 2013 on the ground that local journalists have claimed that they did not make any such CD containing Khan’s statement. Police also claimed that the case was filed for political gain.

Following this, Gupta filed a protest application against the closure report, stating that the original CD could be obtained from news channels who had aired Khan’s statement. The application was accepted and the court directed the police for further investigate the case.

“The court had then directed the investigating officer to collect the original CD from electronic media houses,” Rajeev Sharma said. During investigation, police issued a notice to Gupta asking him again to provide the original CD. Gupta showed his helplessness in this regard and advised the police to collect the same from journalists, he added.

In June this year, the police filed another closure report. “This time, the police said in the closure report that the original CD could not be arranged. They also mentioned that the complainant, who is a political leader and associated with BJP, had filed the case for political gain and to malign Azam Khan’s image, who is a SP leader,” Sharma said.

“On June 25, Gupta again filed a protest application against the closure report. While hearing his application, the court on Monday rejected the closure report. The court has not issued any direction to the police so far.. It has directed the complainant to appear in court on October 22,” he added.