Azam Khan's son to face a 2-year jail term, set to lose assembly membership
14 Feb 2023 14:00:41
Rampur, Feb 14: SP MLA Abdullah Azam faces the prospect of losing his UP Assembly membership after a special court Monday sentenced him and his father, senior party leader Azam Khan, to two years imprisonment in a 15-year-old case in which they were booked for blocking traffic after their vehicle was stopped by the police for checking in Moradabad.
The incident for which the case was registered against the two leaders occurred a day after the terror attack on the CRPF camp in the neighboring Rampur district on January 1, 2008, which claimed the lives of seven jawans and a rickshaw-puller.
Abdullah is the MLA from Suar in Rampur. In November last year, BJP MLA Vikram Saini lost his UP Assembly membership after a local court in Muzaffarnagar sentenced him to two years imprisonment in a case related to the 2013 riots. After the conviction, Saini’s constituency, Khatauli, was declared vacant. On Monday, Abdullah Azam and Azam Khan appeared before the special MP/MLA court in Moradabad. “Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Smita Goswami sentenced Azam Khan and his son Abdullah to two years imprisonment. A fine of Rs 3,000 each was also imposed on them. Later, Azam Khan and his son filed a bail application, which was granted by the court. They were released after submitting the required surety,” said Nitin Gupta, District Government Counsel (DGC), Moradabad. The court convicted the two under IPC sections 341 (wrongful restraint) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), and under the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, Gupta said. Another government counsel, Mohanlal Vishnoi, said seven other accused in the case were acquitted due to lack of evidence. They include SP MLA from Amroha, Mehboob Ali, and former MLAs Haqi Ikram Qureshi and Naim-ul-Hasan. A total of eight prosecution and 17 defence witnesses were examined by the court, he said. According to the prosecution, the case dates back to January 2, 2008, when a car in which Abdullah Azam and Azam Khan were traveling was stopped in the Chhajlet police station area of Moradabad district for having black-tinted film on its windows. The prosecution said Abdullah Azam, who was driving the car, failed to produce the vehicle’s documents despite being asked to do so by the police. This led to an argument following which Azam Khan, who was seated in the back, stepped out, escalating the altercation, the prosecution counsel said. Subsequently, the prosecution said, several SP members reached the spot and staged a protest against the police while blocking the road.
Incidentally, this is the second case in which former UP minister Azam Khan has been convicted. In October last year, he was convicted of three years imprisonment in a hate speech case lodged during the 2019 Lok Sabha election. After the verdict, the Rampur Assembly seat, which he represented, was declared vacant. According to UP Police records, 83 cases have been registered against Azam Khan and 41 against Abdullah Azam since the BJP was voted to power in 2017. The cases have been lodged on various charges, including land-grabbing, cheating, and criminal trespass.
