Supreme Court stays trial court's demand for Azam Khan's voice sample

The Supreme Court has taken a provisional pause on a trial court’s request for senior Samajwadi Party figure, Azam Khan, to provide his vocal specimen as a component of the inquiry into a hate speech case dating back to 2007. A panel comprising Justices AS Bopanna and Prashant Kumar Mishra has summoned the Uttar Pradesh administration to respond to Khan’s plea contesting the trial court’s order. Earlier, on July 25, the Allahabad High Court had opted not to interfere with the trial court’s directive, culminating in the appeal lodged with the apex court. The appeal was filed by Lzafeer Ahmad on behalf of his client Azam Khan. Scheduled for today, the trial court was set to convene for the case hearing. The case pertains to a speech delivered at a public gathering in Rampur during August 2007, purportedly containing content that was disparaging towards a specific community. The High Court noted that Khan’s primary contention revolved around the non-certification of electronic evidence under Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act, which, according to Khan, could be undertaken at a later point. Prominent Lawyer Kapil Sibal stood on behalf of Khan during the Supreme Court proceedings. In a related development, earlier this year in May, a local court in Uttar Pradesh acquitted Khan in a hate speech lawsuit stemming from remarks he made against the State’s Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath, in 2019. Additional District and Sessions Judge Amitveer Singh overturned the verdict from October 2022 issued by a special court in Rampur, which had previously found Khan guilty and sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment.