MEERUT, Dec. 12 -- In a relief for Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan, the MP/MLA court in Rampur on Thursday acquitted him in a case related to an alleged objectionable remark about Indian Army personnel during the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly election campaign. The court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prove the charges. The case was filed on June 30, 2017, by BJP leader and current MLA Akash Saxena at the Civil Lines police station. According to the complaint, Azam Khan was addressing party workers at the SP office when he made comments criticising the central and Uttar Pradesh governments and allegedly made a derogatory remark about army soldiers. Following an investigation, the police filed a charge sheet against him. The matter was heard in the MP/MLA special court (magistrate trial), where proceedings continued for eight years. During Thursday's hearing, Khan appeared before the court through video conferencing. After hearing arguments from both sides, the court declared him not guilty. Advocate Mohammad Arfeen, representing Khan, said the charges were baseless and politically motivated. "The allegation was that Azam Khan made a controversial and objectionable statement about the army, which supposedly demeaned soldiers. Today, the court has acquitted him, proving there was no substantial evidence," he said. The senior SP leader faces more than 100 cases. Of these, courts have delivered judgments in 13; he has been convicted in seven and acquitted in the remaining cases. Despite Thursday's relief, the SP veteran remains behind bars. Khan and his son Abdullah Azam are currently serving a seven-year sentence in Rampur jail in the dual PAN card case. On November 17, the Rampur court sentenced the father-son duo to seven years each for possessing two PAN cards. Abdullah Azam has also previously been convicted in a dual passport case. In September, Azam Khan was released from Sitapur jail after securing bail in other cases, but fresh convictions led to his return to prison....