The Supreme Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh government to file a reply to a plea filed by Abdullah Azam Khan, the son of Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, seeking a stay on his conviction in a case related to forgery and cheating. Abdullah Azam Khan was elected as an MLA in 2017 from Suar constituency in Rampur district of Uttar Pradesh.
The Allahabad High Court had on April 11 upheld Abdullah Azam Khan’s conviction in the case, and he was sentenced to three months in prison. He had then moved the Supreme Court seeking a stay on his conviction. During the hearing, the bench comprising Justices Hemant Gupta and V. Ramasubramanian asked the Uttar Pradesh government to file a response to the plea and listed the matter for further hearing after two weeks. The bench also said that if the Uttar Pradesh government does not file its response, it will pass appropriate orders.
Abdullah Azam Khan’s plea stated that his conviction was based on an erroneous judgment by the trial court, which was upheld by the Allahabad High Court. The plea also claimed that the conviction was based on the “non-existent, imaginary and false documents” and sought a stay on his conviction. Abdullah Azam Khan’s father Azam Khan, who is also a former MLA from Rampur, is facing several cases of land grabbing and theft. He was also arrested in February 2020 in connection with a case related to the alleged forgery of documents for his two Jauhar University students.
Mohammad Abdullah, son of Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, had approached the Supreme Court seeking a stay on his conviction in a forgery case. In February 2021, he was sentenced to six months in jail by a lower court for forging documents to obtain a passport. Abdullah had also sought bail in the case, but the Allahabad High Court had rejected his plea. The Supreme Court asked the Uttar Pradesh government to respond to Abdullah’s request for a stay on his conviction. The court also issued a notice to the state government seeking a reply on the matter within four weeks. The bench, comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and Hrishikesh Roy, asked the state government to file a response to Abdullah’s plea, which challenged the Allahabad High Court’s decision.
