The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere and declined any order to be passed on the petition filed by Bahujan Samaj Party MLA Mukhtar Ansari’s wife Afshan Ansari. The plea sought safety for her husband while he is being shifted to Banda district jail in Uttar Pradesh from Punjab’s Rupnagar jail for the trial in pending cases in the state.
Mukhtar Ansari is a gangster-turned-politician from Uttar Pradesh. He has been elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly from the Mau Constituency five times with a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket.
A bench comprising Justices R Subhash Reddy and Sanjiv Khanna asked Afshan Ansari, the wife of the gangster-turned-politician, to file a petition in the Allahabad High Court. Over 50 Criminal cases are pending against Ansari in UP and other states.
Earlier the Supreme Court had ordered to shift Ansari to Banda Jail in Uttar Pradesh from Punjab’s Rupnagar jail on the plea of Uttar Pradesh government.
The petition stated that there was a grave political bitterness and Ansari, being a witness in several cases wherein influential members of the ruling party are the accused, there is a chance that he could be killed.
“The petitioner is left with no remedy but to approach this Honourable Court as there is a grave and immediate threat to her husbands life in the State of UP which was also noted by this Honourable Court in the judgement dated 26.03.2021,” the petition stated.
The petition also stated that the Petitioner’s husband could participate in a “free and fair” trial in the State and is not killed/encountered in the process.