Lucknow: A Rampur court on Wednesday sentenced Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, his wife Tazeen Fatima and their son Abdullah Azam to seven years imprisonment after finding them guilty in a fake birth certificate case.
Special judge MP/MLA court Shobhit Bansal also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on them. The three were taken into custody after the verdict and sent to jail.
Azam said there is a difference between judgment and justice. “Whatever was delivered today was judgment, not justice. The entire city knew the quantum of punishment even yesterday and many channels had broadcast it. This is just a decision,” he said.
This was Azam’s fourth conviction in the past one year, second of Abdullah and first of Tazeen. This is the maximum punishment awarded to Azam so far in any case.
Abdullah was accused of obtaining a passport and foreign tours based on a first birth certificate and using a second certificate for government-related purposes. Both the certificates were issued through fraudulent means.
BJP MLA Akash Saxena had filed a case against Abdullah Azam in Rampur in 2019 for having two birth certificates. Azam and his wife were also named as accused. It was alleged that Khan and his wife helped their son obtain two fake birth certificates: one from Lucknow and another from Rampur.
“One birth certificate was issued on June 28, 2012, from Rampur in which Abdullah was shown to have been born in Rampur, and another on January 21, 2015, from Lucknow, in which Lucknow was mentioned as Abdullah’s place of birth,” stated the FIR.
In a 430-page judgment, Judge Bansal stated, “Azam Khan had obtained a fake birth certificate from Lucknow with the intention of securing a legislative seat for his son. At the time, Azam was the urban development minister, and he had a primary responsibility not to indulge in such fraudulent activity.” The court also mentioned Tazeen Fatima and said “not just a homemaker but also a former MP and an educated woman. As she provided an affidavit and played an equal role in the criminal conspiracy, she cannot be given the benefit of doubt in this case”.
Joint director, prosecution, Shiv Prakash Pandey, said the court convicted the trio under the charges of IPC 120 (criminal conspiracy), IPC 420 (dishonesty), IPC 467 (forgery of security), IPC 468 (forgery for cheating). The court had examined 15 prosecution witnesses and 19 defence witnesses in the case.
The birth certificate issued by Rampur was used for making the passport of Abdullah, on which he visited several countries abroad. While, on the certificate issued from Lucknow several affiliations were carried for Jauhar university.
Police had filed a chargesheet in the case on April 1, 2019 and the trial had started on August 18, 2021.
Government counsel Anil Pratap Singh said the probe found that the year of birth shown in Rampur certificate of Abdullah was 1993 and another issued by Lucknow Municipal Corporation in 2015 showed his birth year as 1990.
“Both the certificates were being used simultaneously for different purposes. In 2015, Tazeen had appealed to LMC that Abdullah was born in a Lucknow hospital, hence must be issued a certificate,” said Singh.
Abdullah was disqualified as MLA from Rampur’s Suar seat earlier this year after being convicted in a 15-year-old case. The Supreme Court, last week, refused to give an interim stay on Abdullah’s conviction in the case.
“Azam’s greed to make his son MLA despite not qualifying to contest for the election led to a criminal conspiracy. In all, 70 documentary evidence and 15 witnesses were produced in court. Azam and his family have committed many crimes. I’ll continue this fight for truth and justice for the people of Rampur in future as well,” said Akash Saxena.
Since 2017, a total 81 cases have been registered against Azam Khan in Rampur on various charges, including land-grabbing, cheating and criminal trespass. His wife and son were also booked in some of these cases. The Enforcement Directorate has also booked Azam Khan and family in a money laundering case.
