Why Atiq Ahmed’s Conviction is an Important Milestone for Uttar Pradesh | News18 Analysis

It was 2017 and Atiq Ahmed had arrived in Lucknow with a posse of cars and armed men to get his ticket ‘confirmed’ from the Samajwadi Party (SP) from the Kanpur Cantonment seat in the state elections. Mulayam Singh Yadav had announced the ticket, but his son and then Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was uncomfortable confirming the ticket and asked Ahmed to step back.

“They are citing 100 criminal cases against me…what they forget is I am a free man and I bring in Muslim votes…a wrong message is going to them. The SP will lose this election in Uttar Pradesh…" Ahmed told this correspondent then, rather prophetically, saying he was withdrawing.

Cut to March 28, 2023, almost six years later, Ahmed has finally been convicted for the first time by a court, nearly 43 years after the first criminal case was lodged against him.

Nearly 60 of the said 100 cases against Ahmed on charges of murder, attempted murder and kidnapping for ransom are under trial, but many have seen key witnesses turning hostile or not appearing in court.

‘SETS AN EXAMPLE’

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh will project this conviction as the Yogi Adityanath government doing what could not be done in 43 years in Uttar Pradesh and the Chief Minister razing the impregnable fort of Atiq Ahmed’s mafia.

A senior party official in the state said the punishment sets an example as during the SP rule in the state before 2017, Ahmed roamed freely in the state cocking a snook at the law and ran his mafia gang without fear from Allahabad.

“This gave an impression to common man that the road of law ended even before the entry gate to Atiq’s dwelling. The area where he ruled was forbidden for police and the law. But for the first time, the fear of government and law was visible on Atiq’s face," a BJP leader in the state said.

‘REIGN OF TERROR ENDS’

The conviction also shows that the police and the prosecution had worked together effectively to take the matter to its logical conclusion in the court in the past six years, although the crime of Umesh Pal’s kidnapping dated back to 2007, over 15 years ago.

BJP leaders in Uttar Pradesh are citing how cases against mafia were withdrawn under the SP government and SP leaders shared the stage with Atiq on public forums, giving legitimacy to his terror in the state. Atiq had also contested elections on the SP symbol – making it a classic case of politico-mafia nexus in Uttar Pradesh, BJP leaders say.

BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said there was a time in the past when at least a dozen judges had disassociated themselves from hearing cases against Ahmed. “Under the Yogi government, the terror of Atiq has come to an end. The strong stand put forth by the prosecution in the case shows the solid support from the state government," Tripathi said.

It was under the Yogi government that Atiq was arrested and sent back to jail after several years. He was shifted from the Naini jail in Allahabad to the Deoria jail and later shifted to a jail outside the state after his business of extortion continued from behind bars.

Even from the Gujarat jail, Atiq was able to orchestrate the murder of Umesh Pal last month. However, Atiq’s conviction with a life sentence not only ends his political career, but also his reign of fear in Uttar Pradesh.

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