Allahabad HC quashes Abbas Ansari’s conviction in hate speech case; restores his Assembly membership

PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad High Court has overturned the conviction of gangster-turned politician Mukhtar Ansari’s son, Abbas Ansari, who is Mau MLA, in a 2022 hate speech case and restored his Assembly membership.

On Wednesday, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party MLA Abbas Ansari received major relief after the Allahabad High Court overturned the MP/MLA court’s order of his conviction. He was disqualified from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly after his conviction in a hate speech case.

His advocate Bhupendra Upadhyay said, “Abbas Ansari’s membership of UP Vidhan Sabha was revoked, and he was sentenced to two years by the CJM court. In response, he filed an appeal in the Sessions Court, which granted him bail but did not stay the punishment, preventing the restoration of his membership. Subsequently, he went to the High Court, which today stayed the punishment, resulting in the restoration of his membership.”

#WATCH | Prayagraj, UP: Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party MLA Abbas Ansari receives major relief as Allahabad High Court overturns his conviction and restores his Assembly membership. He was disqualified from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly after his conviction in a hate speech case in… pic.twitter.com/MjXKWmZuRt

— ANI (@ANI) August 20, 2025

Reacting to the High Court’s order, Mukhtar Ansari’s elder brother, Sibgatullah Ansari, termed this a “victory of justice and fairness”. He said, “This is the victory of justice and fairness. We all believed we were innocent and would definitely get justice, with the punishment given to Abbas Ansari being cancelled. Speaking in court cases is also a crime in today’s time… the only thing is that we have got justice; this is the victory of justice… even today justice is alive in the judiciary, due to which the country is moving forward.”

Abbas Ansari had filed a petition in the High Court on July 17 to stop the two-year sentence given by the MP/MLA Special Court Mau in the hate speech case. On May 31, the Chief Judicial Magistrate (MP-MLA) court in Mau district had awarded two years’ imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 3000 on Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party MLA and dead mafia don Mukhtar Ansari’s son Abbas Ansari in connection with the hate speech case of 2022. On this basis, he lost his MLA post on June 1, 2025.

Abbas Ansari’s close aide, Mansoor Ansari, was also sentenced to six months of imprisonment. Ansari was booked for delivering a provocative speech against the Mau district administration while the model code of conduct was in place.

Earlier, the Allahabad High Court refused anticipatory bail to him in the same case. He approached the top court against the High Court’s December 2023 order.

On December 19, 2023, the High Court rejected the anticipatory bail application of Ansari and said that, looking at the facts and circumstances of the case, the offence was made out.

The FIR was lodged in March 2022 at Kotwali police station in Mau district against Abbas Ansari, Umar Ansari, and others. It was alleged in the FIR that on March 3, 2022, at Pahadpura ground, Abbas Ansari, Umar Ansari, and organiser Mansoor Ahmad Ansari, in a public meeting, called for settling a score with the Mau administration.

Abbas Ansari fought and won on a ticket from the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), the then alliance partner of the Samajwadi Party, in the 2022 state assembly elections from the Sadar seat in Mau.

As per the Representation of the People Act, a sentence of two years or more can lead to disqualification from holding public office, pending appeal. (ANI)