FIR against Azam Khan for derogatory remarks at Jaya Prada

SENIOR Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan was slapped on Monday with a poll campaign ban, an FIR and a women commission notice for his derogatory remarks at BJP leader Jaya Prada, while the BJP mounted a sharp political attack comparing his “disgusting” comments to disrobing of Draupadi in Mahabharata. The actor-turned-politician, who was earlier with the SP and has now been pitted by the BJP against Khan from Rampur Lok Sabha seat, demanded his immediate disqualification from contesting polls and said she had considered him a brother but he has now crossed the ‘lakshman rekha’. After examining the remarks made at an election rally on Sunday by Khan, who has often stoked controversies with his speeches, the Election Commission on Monday night imposed a nationwide ban on him from campaigning for 72 hours, beginning on Tuesday.

During the last Lok Sabha elections in 2014, the EC had imposed a ban on Khan from campaigning in UP for his provocative speeches and had also lodged an FIR against him. Khan, however, remained defiant and said he did not name any person in his speech and if anyone proves that he had taken any name or maligned anyone then he would not contest the polls. Without naming the actor, Jaya Prada had represented Rampur twice in Lok Sabha after winning in 2004 and 2009 as a Samajwadi Party leader. Later she was expelled from the party, along with Amar Singh, following differences with Mulayam Singh Yadav. Last month she joined BJP and has been nominated as the BJP’s candidate against Khan from Rampur, which goes to polls on April 23.

Khan and some other SP leaders sought to suggest that Khan’s comments were targeted at Singh, who is considered her mentor in UP politics. As the remarks drew a sharp criticism, with the BJP launching a scathing attack on him and other SP leaders including the party chief Akhilesh Yadav who was allegedly himself present at the rally, the police lodged an FIR against Khan. Rampur’s District Magistrate Aajaneya Kumar Singh told PTI, “An FIR has been registered against Azam Khan under section 509 of the IPC (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and under sections of the Representation of People’s Act.”

The National Commission for Women (NCW) issued a show cause notice to Khan, saying his remarks were “extremely derogatory, offensive, unethical and show disrespect towards dignity of women”. It also urged the EC to take “strong action” against the SP leader. The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) also asked the EC to take strict action against politicians making “disparaging” comments against women. Union Minister Sushma Swaraj questioned SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav’s silence on the matter and asked him not to stay silent like ‘Bhishma Pitamah’ did at disrobing of Draupadi in Mahabharata.

Tagging a video of Khan’s remarks, Swaraj tweeted, “Brother Mulayam, you are the patriarch of the Samajwadi Party. In Rampur, Draupadi is being disrobed in front of you. Don’t commit the mistake of staying silent like Bhishma Pitamah”, referring to an incident from the famous Indian mythology Mahabharata. Swaraj also tagged SP President Akhilesh Yadav, who was allegedly present at the rally when Khan made the controversial remarks, his wife Dimple Yadav and film star Jaya Bachchan, who is also an SP leader. At an election rally in Gujarat, BJP chief Amit Shah hit out at Khan and his party, as well as its ally in Uttar Pradesh BSP, and sought their apology for their leader’s “disgusting” remark, calling it an insult to crores of mothers and sisters”, not Jaya Prada alone. BJP leader and Union Minister Smriti Irani also questioned the silence of the Congress and its allies on Khan’s remarkes and alleged it was a clear indication that those connected with the UPA were disrespectful towards women.