Hate speech has become selective, so is the punishment

NT Correspondent

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party bigwig and 10-time MLA Azam Khan was sentenced to three years in jail on Thursday over hate speech directed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others during the 2019 general election campaign.

This has caused an agitation among critics, who say hate speech deliverers with Hindutva leanings have gone scot-free after investigations that amount to a collective eyewash. The MP/MLA court granted him bail against two bonds of Rs 25,000 each, apart from levying a fine of Rs 6,000.

The FIR quotes Azam’s speech in Hindi as saying: “You (Muslims) should take vengeance against those who call you puppy and dog.” Khan was referring to a 2013 Reuters interview wherein the then Gujarat CM Modi had responded to a question about the 2022 Gujarat pogrom with: “When someone else is driving a car and we’re sitting in it, even then if a puppy comes under the wheel, would it pain you or not?”

The FIR also claims Khan targeted the Rampur collector. Azam had been booked under IPC Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 505A (public mischief) and Section 125 of the Representation of the People Act (promoting enmity between classes in connection with election).

There is also the question whether Khan can continue as MLA, since lawmakers awarded a sentence of more than two years can be disqualified. BJP leader Akash Saxena, who filed the case against the SP leader, certainly hopes so.

Azam faces over 50 cases of land-grabbing, criminal intimidation and theft. He was released on bail in May this year by the Supreme Court after serving over two years in jail. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said on Saturday that Azam Khan had become an eyesore for the BJP government which was harassing him with false cases. "He is a leader who has struggled for the Constitution and secularism," he said in a statement