The Uttar Pradesh police on Friday booked Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan over an alleged offensive remark made while campaigning for the bypoll election for the Rampur seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Deputy Superintendent of Police of Rampur Anuj Kumar Chaudhary said that a woman named Shehnaaz Begum has submitted to the police an audio file of the public meeting at Shuta Khana. A probe has been launched, he said.
According to the complainant, Azam Khan had in the meeting said, "I was a minister in the last four governments and if I would have used the power like this then unborn kids would ask their mothers if they had his permission to take birth."
Based on the woman's complaint, the Ganj police have booked Khan under Section 394(b), 354 A, 353 (A), 504, 505 (2), 509 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 125 of the Representation of the People Act.
Azam Khan allegedly made the statement while campaigning in support of the SP candidate Asim Raja in the upcoming bypolls of the Rampur Assembly Seat.
Deputy Superintendent of Police in Rampur Anuj Kumar Chaudhary said that several women offended by Khan's statement had lodged a complaint against him with the recorded audio.
A probe into this matter is underway.
The Rampur Assembly seat had fell vacant after the Rampur District Court sentenced Azam Khan to three years in prison in a 2019 hate speech case. He eventually lost his Assembly membership because his prison term was longer than two years.
Rampur will go to the polls on December 5 for the Mainpuri seat, which fell vacant after SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav died on October 10.
On October 27 this year, the Samajwadi Party leader and two other accused were sentenced to three years in prison along with a fine of Rs 2,000 in a hate speech case filed against him over his comments against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. However, he was later granted bail and given a week's time to appeal against the sentence.
Azam Khan began his political career by winning the 1980 assembly election on Janata Party (Secular) ticket from Rampur. He has served as a minister in both Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav governments.
