Prayagraj (UP), Jul 30 (PTI) The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday reserved its judgment on a petition filed by Abbas Ansari challenging the order of an MP-MLA court at Mau that had rejected his application for a stay on his conviction in a 2022 hate speech case.
Abbas Ansari, son of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, was disqualified in June this year as a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly from the Mau seat, after he was convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment by the Chief Judicial Magistrate (MP-MLA court), Mau on May 31, 2025.
The appeal against the judgement filed by Ansari is pending before the court of the Additional Sessions Judge (MP-MLA court) in Mau. Along with the appeal, he had moved an application for a stay of conviction that was rejected by the court by an order dated July 5, 2025.
He had then moved to the high court, challenging the order rejecting a stay on his conviction.
According to the prosecution, during the last UP assembly elections, Abbas Ansari, who was contesting as an SBSP candidate from the Mau Sadar seat, had threatened the Mau administration during a public meeting at Paharpur ground on March 3, 2022, saying he would “settle scores and teach them a lesson” after the elections.
The Special MP/MLA court in Mau had convicted and sentenced Ansari to imprisonment of two years under IPC sections 153-A (promoting enmity among different groups) and 189 (threat of injury to a public servant).
He was also fined Rs. 2,000. Ansari’s election agent, Mansoor Ansari, who was present on stage during the speech, was also convicted in the case and sentenced to six months in jail.
Under the Representation of the People Act, there is a provision to terminate legislature membership if the court sentences the member to two years or more. However, if conviction is stayed during the pendency of an appeal, the disqualification does not come into effect.
Abbas Ansari became an MLA for the first time in 2022 by winning the election from the Mau Sadar assembly seat on an SBSP ticket under the Samajwadi Party-led alliance.
SBSP is currently an ally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government and the party president is a cabinet minister in the state.
Before that, Abbas Ansari’s father, politician Mukhtar Ansari, represented the Mau Sadar assembly seat for a long time.
Mukhtar Ansari, who was incarcerated in Banda district jail, died of a cardiac arrest at a hospital in Uttar Pradesh in March 2024. PTI CORR RAJ RT
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