The Supreme Court on Thursday conditionally suspended the conviction of former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP Afzal Ansari in a 2007 Gangsters Act case.
A Bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta and Ujjal Bhuyan in a majority verdict said Mr. Ansari, a former MP from the Ghazipur constituency of Uttar Pradesh, would not cast his vote in the Lok Sabha nor draw any perk but could attend the proceedings of the House.
“It is appropriate for courts to balance the interests of protecting the integrity of the electoral process in one hand, while also ensuring that constituents are not bereft of their right to be represented,” the majority opinion said.
The majority verdict further directed the Allahabad High Court to dispose of Mr. Ansari’s criminal appeal against his conviction and sentence by June 30, 2024.
“It is exigent that the appellant’s [Ansari’s] future is not left hanging in balance due to the conviction… it is incumbent upon the court in which the appeal is pending to hear the matter out of turn and expeditiously adjudicate it,” the majority opinion said.
Dismissed the appeal
Justice Datta dismissed the appeal of Mr. Ansari outright.
The Allahabad High Court had in July refused to suspend his conviction.
The special court in Ghazipur had in April convicted Mr. Ansari and his brother Mukhtar Ansari, an ex-MLA, in the 2007 Gangsters Act case. While sentencing Mr. Afzal Ansari to four years in jail, it awarded 10 years of imprisonment to Mukhtar Ansari.
The brothers were booked under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters Act in connection with the murder of the then BJP MLA from Ghazipur Krishnanad Rai in November 2005, and the kidnapping and murder of Varanasi-based trader Nand Kishore Rungta in 1997.
