Latest news with #AbbasAnsari
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Arrest of Mukhtar Ansari's son Umar sparks political row, SP cries foul, BJP says law taking its course
The arrest of deceased mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's younger son Umar Ansari from Lucknow in a forgery case on Sunday night sparked a political controversy with the Samajwadi Party alleging that Umar was taken into custody as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party wanted to affect the by-polls for the Mau Sadar assembly seat in eastern Uttar Pradesh and the BJP asserting that the law has taken its course and legal matters should not be politicised. Umar Ansari was arrested on Sunday night. (FILE PHOTO) The Ghazipur police, which arrested Umar Ansari from the MLA residence at Darulshafa in Lucknow on Sunday night, produced him in court in Ghazipur on Monday morning. Umar is accused of forging the signatures of his mother Afsha Ansari, on whom there is a ₹50,000 bounty, and submitting it to the court to reclaim his family's ₹10 crore attached property. The property was related to Mukhtar Ansari, the former head of the IS (Inter State) 191 gang, according to the police. The Mau Sadar seat had fallen vacant after the conviction of Umar Ansari's elder brother Abbas Ansari by a special MP-MLA Court in Mau in a hate speech case on May 31. Abbas's father Mukhtar Ansari represented the Mau Sadar assembly seat five times, from 1996 to 2017. Mukhtar did not contest the 2022 polls and died two years later on March 28, 2024 at the Banda Medical College hospital in Uttar Pradesh. He had been in Banda jail prior to his death. The Allahabad high court on July 30 reserved its judgment on a petition filed by Abbas Ansari challenging the order of the Mau court that had rejected his application for a stay on his conviction in the hate speech case. 'As far as we can understand, it is clear that Abbas Ansari has been framed. Muslims MLAs were the target of this government. Azam Khan and his entire family were targeted. Now, when the decision regarding membership of Abbas Ansari in the UP assembly is about to be given, then his younger brother Umar Ansari has been arrested. The government wants that no one from his family should be able to contest the by-election,' SP spokesperson Ameeque Jamei said. 'An FIR is registered against Umar at 6pm and by 9pm he is arrested. Meanwhile, some mafias are roaming freely in Purvanchal, the STF and police are unable to see them. But Umar is arrested in a fake signature case. We want to ask if the accused has no right to go to the court and secondly did the court take notice of the alleged fake sign? Is there any report by FSL (forensic science laboratory) which proves the sign is fake? This is an attempt to put all the members of the Ansari family behind bars by misusing administrative powers,' the SP spokesperson said. Abbas Ansari had won the Mau Sadar assembly seat on a Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party ticket as the OP Rajbhar-led party had contested 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in alliance with the SP. Rajbhar later left the SP camp and joined hands with the BJP-led NDA to become a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government. 'SBSP chief and minister OP Rajbhar should take a stand for his MLA, instead of trying to create a communal divide in the society,' Jamei said. UP BJP vice-president Vijay Bahadur Pathak said, 'In Umar Ansari's arrest, the law has taken its own course. All due legal process was followed before arresting Umar Ansari. It is a case related to presenting forged documents in court. Legal matters should not be politicised.' According to police, Umar Ansari filed a petition in court with a forged affidavit to seek release of the property that was attached under the UP Gangster Act. When the Ghazipur police came to know about the forgery, the Mohammadabad police registered a case against Umar Ansari and his lawyer Liaquat Ali. Mukhtar Ansari's wife, Afsha Ansari, is still at large. According to a statement issued by the superintendent of police, Ghazipur, the properties were seized under provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters Act. It is alleged that Umar Ansari intended to secure illegal gains and submitted forged documents reportedly bearing the fake signatures of his mother, Afshan Ansari, in the court, the statement said. Afshan Ansari is currently absconding and carries a reward of ₹50,000 on her head. 'Upon learning of the fraudulent activity, a case was registered against Umar Ansari at the Mohammadabad police station, with charges filed under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS),' read the statement. The Supreme Court had granted interim bail to Abbas Ansari on March 7, 2025 in a case under the Gangsters Act. Over two months later, he was sentenced to two years in prison in a hate speech case related to Mau in May, resulting in his disqualification from the state assembly. The case in which Abbas Ansari was convicted stems from a speech delivered during the 2022 assembly election campaign in Mau. On July 5, 2025, a local court in Mau upheld the conviction of Abbas Ansari in the hate speech case but allowed further hearings on his plea specifically challenging the quantum of the two-year sentence initially awarded. The court also granted Ansari interim bail on a bond of ₹50,000 and stayed his sentence, but maintained his conviction. ARREST BASED ON INVESTIGATION, EVIDENCE: DGP Responding to a media query, director general of police Rajeev Krishna confirmed that Umar Ansari was taken into custody from Lucknow on Sunday night in connection with a case registered in Ghazipur. 'The arrest has been made based on investigation and available evidence,' he said. Emphasising the due legal process, Krishna stated, 'There are clear directives from the Supreme Court, the high court, and the law itself. Our role as a police force is to ensure that any action taken is backed by solid evidence that can stand up in court.' He stressed that all police efforts must be carried out within the framework of the law to maintain the integrity of the judicial process.
Time of India
30-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
HC reserves order on Abbas Ansari plea
Prayagraj: Allahabad High Court on Wednesday reserved judgment on a revision petition filed by disqualified MLA Abbas Ansari challenging order of MP-MLA court at Mau by which his application for stay of his conviction in 2022 hate speech case has been rejected. Son of gangster-turned-politician late Mukhtar Ansari, Abbas Ansari had moved Allahabad High court challenging order of additional sessions judge, MP-MLA court passed on Jul 5, by which his application for stay of conviction has been rejected pending appeal. Abbas is Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party's former MLA from Mau Assembly. Justice Sameer Jain passed the above order after hearing both sides at length. Court of Chief Justice Magistrate MP-MLA court Mau had convicted Abbas and sentenced him to two years' imprisonment in a 2022 hate speech case by judgement passed on May 31. Appeal against the said judgement filed by Ansari is pending before Additional Sessios Judge MP-MLA court Mau. Alongwith appeal he has moved an application for stay of conviction which has been rejected by appellate court by order dated Jul, 5. Against this order he has moved to Allahabad High court by present revision. Abbas was convicted by the MP-MLA court of Mau on May 31 under sections 153-A (promoting enmity between groups) and 189 (threatening a public servant) of the Indian Penal Code. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Up to 70% off | Shop Sale Libas Undo The conviction pertains to a controversial speech delivered during the 2022 assembly election campaign in Mau when Abbas targeted a govt officer and his speech video went viral on social media, leading to the lodging of the case. He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment and fined Rs 2,000. His election agent, Mansoor Ansari, who was present on the stage during the rally, was also convicted and sentenced to six months in jail. After conviction, he was disqualified as member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. The seat has now been declared vacant.
Time of India
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Hate speech case: HC to hear Abbas Ansari's revision plea on July 30
Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday adjourned till July 30 the hearing of the revision petition filed by ex-MLA Abbas Ansari challenging the conviction in 2022 hate speech case. Abbas, son of late gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, was MLA from Mau Assembly constituency from Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP). Justice Sameer Jain deferred the hearing after additional advocate general MC Chaturvedi, appearing for the state, sought additional time to prepare the case. The courts in its one-page order observed: "At the very outset, the additional advocate general (AAG) submitted that for proper assistance, some time may be given to him to prepare the case properly." Abbas was convicted by the MP-MLA court of Mau on May 31 under sections 153-A (promoting enmity between groups) and 189 (threatening a public servant) of the Indian Penal Code. The conviction pertains to a controversial speech delivered during the 2022 assembly election campaign in Mau when Abbas targeted a govt officer and his speech video went viral on social media, leading to the lodging of the case. He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment and fined Rs 2,000. His election agent, Mansoor Ansari, who was present on the stage during the rally, was also convicted and sentenced to six months in jail. Subsequently after conviction, he was disqualified as a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. The seat has now been declared vacant.
News18
22-07-2025
- Politics
- News18
Allahabad HC to hear Abbas Ansari revision plea on Jul 30
Agency: PTI Last Updated: Prayagraj, Jul 22 (PTI) The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday fixed July 30 to hear the revision plea of Abbas Ansari, son gangster turned politician Mukhtar Ansari. Ansari moved court challenging the order of MP-MLA court at Mau which rejected his plea for a stay on his conviction. On Tuesday appearing before Justice Samir Jain, the additional advocate general M C Chaturvedi sought time to prepare the case following which the deferred the matter to July 30. The MP-MLA court on July 5 rejected his plea. Ansari was convicted and sentenced under Sections 153-A (promoting enmity among different groups) and 189 (threat of injury to a public servant) to two years' imprisonment in a 2022 hate speech case on May 31. He was also saddled with a Rs 2,000 fine. The appeal against the said judgement filed by Ansari is pending before additional sessions judge (MP-MLA court) Mau. Along with the appeal, he moved an application for stay of conviction which was rejected by appellate court. Ansari is charged with sharing the dais in a rally in Mau district in 2022 where his brother allegedly threatened government officials with payback, after election results. PTI CORR RAJ AMK AMK view comments First Published: July 22, 2025, 14:15 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
India Today
16-07-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Why UP's Muslim leaders are fading from prominence
(NOTE: This article was originally published in the India Today issue dated July 21, 2025)There was a time when Muslim leaders in Uttar Pradesh were not just bystanders in its political theatre. They were an important part of the discourse, shaping coalitions, influencing agendas, and giving voice to nearly a fifth of the state's population. No longer so. The spotlight has shifted, the applause has faded. And what remains is a ringing silence. Muslim political representation in UP has entered its most diminished phase in decades. In a state where the community makes up more than 19 per cent of the population, its representation in the current assembly is just 31 seats, or 7.7 per cent of the 403-member House (see Nowhere to Go).advertisementThis is a far cry from 2012, when 69 Muslim candidates were elected, marking the highest-ever representation since Independence. The lowest was 17 in 1991, before improving to 24 a year after the Babri Masjid demolition, 31 in 1996, 46 in 2002 and 2007, before plummeting to 24 in 2017. After a modest uptick in 2022 to 34 (with the Samajwadi Party accounting for 31 of these wins, and the Rashtriya Lok Dal or RLD, and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party or SBSP, both then SP allies, contributing one and two MLAs respectively), it has dropped again following the disqualification of Mau MLA Abbas Ansari, and bypoll losses in Rampur and the decline in representation is not just about numbers, it reflects a deeper realignment in UP's politics. The political centre of gravity has shifted, and under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the BJP has maintained its dominance without fielding a single Muslim candidate in successive elections, consolidating majoritarian support while pushing earlier models of minority-based identity politics to the margins. The situation remains as dismal in the 100-member state Legislative Council—where they remain squeezed to five (two BJP and three SP). The void is also stark in the Lok Sabha. Only five of UP's 80 MPs are Muslim, all from the Opposition (four SP and one Congress). Imran Masood, the Congress MP from Saharanpur, is reconciled to the current political situation, but says, 'People talk about the winnability of Muslim candidates, but a discussion about it can start only when you give them tickets.'Over the past decade, all three major parties in UP apart from the BJP—Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress—have scaled back Muslim representation for electoral reasons. The SP, once defined by its Muslim-Yadav coalition, has gradually shifted focus to its new PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpasankhyak) formula. In recent years, as the political narrative has further consolidated around Hindu identity politics and with the BSP's grip on Dalit voters weakening, the SP has actively courted Dalit support while being careful not to alienate Hindu voters. Mayawati's BSP, too, has turned away its focus from Muslim candidates and pivoted instead to reinforce its traditional base among Dalits and backward classes, especially after the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Across the board, what emerges is a retreat from minority-centric ticket distribution toward strategies centred on majoritarian and caste-based electoral LEADERSHIP VACUUMThere are those who attribute the decline in Muslim political representation in UP to the collapse of a specific section of the leadership that thrived on a criminal-political nexus. Leaders like Azam Khan, Mukhtar Ansari and Atiq Ahmed once embodied a brand of assertive Muslim leadership in UP politics. They were controversial, yet undeniably influential. The issue before the community now is that their decline has created a vacuum rather than paving the way for a new generation of leaders. Khan is entangled in dozens of legal cases, Ansari died in jail and Ahmed was shot dead while in police custody. Others, including MLAs like Kairana's Nahid Hasan and Kanpur Nagar's Irfan Solanki (now disqualified), are also caught up in prolonged legal the BJP's rise to power in 2017, the narrative in UP's political landscape has shifted from a spectrum of identity-driven themes to governance- and Hindutva-oriented ones. Muslim leaders, traditionally aligned with the SP and BSP, have struggled to find space in this new order. The Yogi government's hardline stand against crime has provided conducive legal grounds to act against many of these figures. While the Opposition describes this as a selective crackdown aimed at silencing Muslim voices, the state maintains that it is simply enforcing the But then criminality in UP politics is a widespread phenomenon. According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), in the 2022 UP assembly election, 205 of the 403 MLAs (over 51 per cent) contesting had declared criminal cases against themselves. Of these, 111 were from the BJP and 71 from the SP. The numbers remained high even for serious criminal charges—90 BJP and 48 SP legislators had declared such cases. Responding to allegations that the BJP is targeting Muslim politicians, Om Prakash Rajbhar, the UP cabinet minister for minority welfare, NDA ally and SBSP chief, claimed, 'Many non-Muslim leaders are also facing legal action, which the Opposition conveniently overlooks.' Under the Yogi government, legal action is taken 'as per the law and without bias', he said, there is no denying that the alleged 'criminal-political overlap' has left many Muslim leaders vulnerable. Once stripped of political protection, their legal troubles escalated rapidly. The BJP's sustained dominance has deepened this marginalisation, with Muslim figures unable to mount a credible counter. Indeed, for parties like the SP or BSP, it is now difficult to even promote Muslim leaders without risking a WITHIN WHEELSBut there are other factors at play as well. Hilal Ahmed, political scientist and professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), feels that the reasons for Muslim representation declining in UP are more due to changing political strategies than overt exclusion. He goes back to the emphasis on the winnability factor. 'At present, the political discourse is dominated by Hindutva, no political party can ignore that. Because of this, the term 'Muslim' has acquired a negative connotation. Even leaders like (SP chief) Akhilesh Yadav have shifted from using the term 'Muslim' to 'minorities',' he points also believes that political narratives heavily influence leaders as well as the electorate. 'Earlier, from around 1992 to 2010, secularism was the dominant narrative inIndian politics. Every political party wanted to be called secular, even the BJP, which described others as 'pseudo-secularists' while still embracing the label for itself,' he notes. 'Today, the environment is very divisive. If that does not change, it will become difficult to imagine any form of non-identitarian politics.'advertisement But then, winning elections is just one part of democracy, asserting India's pluralistic values is another. 'We do need Muslim MPs and MLAs to make our institutions inclusive and diverse. But we should not ask political parties to give tickets to Muslims, or expect that Muslims will vote only for Muslim candidates. Instead, we should expect parties to recognise Muslim presence in the legislative chambers,' says the CSDS professor. Hilal also flagged the growing lack of internal inclusiveness within the political parties themselves, warning that if such trends continue, the very meaning of democracy risks being reduced to just contesting and winning within the Opposition ranks, the signs of discomfort are visible. The SP's decision to name Azam Khan a star campaigner in the 2024 Lok Sabha election despite his imprisonment drew internal criticism and highlighted a growing unease over the party's traditional formula of minority consolidation. The absence of a strong, unifying leadership has also left the vote fragmented, which is again cited as a reason for multiple Muslim candidates sprouting in community stronghold seats. Newer outfits like Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM (All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen) and Chandra Shekhar Azad's Azad Samaj Party have tried to fill the vacuum, but have yet to gain meaningful results of the assembly bypolls in November 2024, where the SP lost in Muslim strongholds such as Kundarki, Meerapur and Rampur, show that revival is a long way off. Kundarki, in particular, exemplified this crisis. The constituency has over 60 per cent Muslims, the local MP is from the community (Zia Ur Rehman Barq from Sambhal), and the BJP had not won here in over 30 years. But this time the BJP did, with party candidate Ramveer Singh taking an unprecedented 76 per cent of the vote. The Opposition had its share of excuses—the 10 dummy Muslim candidates (other than the SP nominee), security officials allegedly not allowing Muslim voters to come out and vote in certain areas—but couldn't evade the elephant in the room, the fact that a sizeable section of the community had voted for the saffron party. This also segues into Prof. Hilal's argument that 'it's a false assumption that Muslims will automatically vote for Muslim candidates.'One must laud the community's efforts at staying ahead of the polarisation debate in UP, but the collapse of the old Muslim leadership model elicits broader questions, not just about minority representation but about the kind of leadership that is required to take its to India Today Magazine- Ends
