Lucknow: The MP/MLA court in UP’s Rampur on Saturday acquitted senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, his son Abdullah and two others in a criminal case filed by his neighbour in 2019. Azam is lodged in Sitapur jail while his son was sent to Hardoi district jail after they were convicted in a fake date of birth certificate case. The judgment in that case was delivered on October 18 this year.
District government counsel (DGC) Amit Saxena said that, “The case was registered under IPC sections 307 (attempt to murder), 386 (extortion), 506 (criminal intimidation), 452 (house trespass) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) against Azam, Abdullah and local residents Shareef Ahmad and Bilal Khan on the complaint of one Mohammed Ahmad. Police had filed a chargesheet against the four in the court. All the accused were granted bail earlier. In all, seven witnesses were presented before the court by additional DGC Seema Rana. Azam and Abdullah were produced in the court under heavy police security where ADJ Vijay Kumar (special judge EC Act and MP/MLA) acquitted the four accused on Saturday. A copy of the judgment is not available yet.”
In another case, the same MP/MLA sessions court rejected Azam and his family’s appeal challenging their conviction in the 2019 fake date of birth certificate case on Saturday, said Shiv Prakash Pandey, special prosecuting officer. Azam, his wife Tazeen Fatima and son Abdullah were awarded a seven-year jail term by special judge MP/MLA court Shobhit Bansal on October 18.
The FIR in the case was lodged by BJP MLA Akash Saxena at Ganj police station in Rampur on January 3, 2019, under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged documents as genuine) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy). It was alleged that the SP leader and his wife had helped their son obtain two fake birth certificates — one from Lucknow and another from Rampur.
Abdullah’s membership in the UP assembly was revoked after it was found that he had forged his age in the 2017 state polls. He later managed to win the assembly seat from Suar constituency in 2022, but his membership was again cancelled after he was convicted in a criminal case in Moradabad.
In October 2022, Azam lost his assembly membership after an MP/MLA court sentenced him for three years’ imprisonment on charges of delivering a hate speech during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. There are currently over 90 cases against the former cabinet minister.
