Prayagraj. The arguments on behalf of the government were completed on Wednesday on the appeal filed by the state government in Allahabad High Court demanding increase in the sentence given to Samajwadi Party MP from Ghazipur Afzal Ansari under Gangster Act. After that, arguments were presented on behalf of Afzal in opposition to the government's appeal.

The hearing of the case will also be held on Thursday, July 4 in the bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh. Additional Advocate General PC Srivastava and Additional Government Advocate (AGA) JK Upadhyay argued on the appeal of the state government and said that the trial court has sentenced Afzal Ansari to only four years in the Gang Act.

The trial court has done this in view of Afzal Ansari's age (70 years) and his being elected as MP twice and MLA many times, whereas according to the law, the trial court should have looked at the age of the accused at the time when the crime was committed. At that time it was 55 years. If those who have the responsibility of building the future of the country commit crime and form a gang, then they should be given maximum punishment.

The trial court should have done the same. Advocate Sudisht Kumar of the second plaintiff Piyush Rai completely agreed with the government's arguments. Senior advocates Gopal Chaturvedi and DS Mishra and advocate Upendra Upadhyay argued on behalf of Afzal Ansari.

He said that in the gang chart prepared by the prosecution, many members were included, but action under the Gangster Act was taken against only three people. It is clear from the statement of the investigator in the trial court that this was done due to political animosity. Apart from this, Afzal Ansari has been acquitted in the original case on the basis of which he was sentenced under the Gangster Act.

After this case under Gangster Act, only two cases were registered against him and those too are related to the Representation of People Act regarding the elections of 2009 and 2014. In such a case, the sentence should be cancelled. He has filed an appeal against this.