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The Allahabad High Court on Thursday reserved its judgment on Ghazipur MP Afzal Ansari's criminal appeal challenging his four years' sentence by a trial court in a Gangsters Act case linked to the 2005 murder of BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai. As per the PTI report, along with Ansari's plea, the high court also heard petitions filed by the Uttar Pradesh government and Rai's son Piyush Kumar Rai seeking enhancement of Ansari's sentence. ADVERTISEMENT Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh reserved his verdict after hearing both the sides.
If the high court upholds the trial court order, Ansari who had won the Ghazipur seat on a Samajwadi Party ticket in Lok Sabh Polls this year, will lose his membership of Parliament. According to the Representation of the People Act, any MP or state legislator sentenced to imprisonment of two years or more shall be disqualified "from the date of such conviction" and remain disqualified for another six years after serving time. Ansari was convicted on April 29, 2023 by an MP-MLA court of Ghazipur.
The court sentenced him to four years jail and also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh in the Gangsters Act case . Following this, Ansari was disqualified as MP, said the PTI report. Thereafter, he filed the present criminal appeal before the high court.
On July 24, 2023, the high court granted bail to the five-time MLA and two-time MP but declined to stay his conviction in the case. As a result, though he was released from jail, his membership of Parliament was not restored..
