In another setback for Samajwadi Party leader Mohammad Azam Khan and his family, an MP-MLA court here on Wednesday sentenced him; his wife, Tanzin Fatima; and son, Abdullah Azam; to seven years’ imprisonment in a case involving two fake birth certificates of Khan and Fatima’s ex-MLA son, Abdullah Azam.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court had refused to entertain Azam Khan to transfer this case to some other state from UP.
The special judge, Vinod Kumar Barnawal, sentenced all the three accused to seven years’ imprisonment after convicting them. All three were sent to jail on the orders of the court after their bail were withdrawn.
In 2019, then-regional coordinator of the small industries cell and present BJP MLA Akash Saxena had filed a case in Ganj police station against Abdullah Azam for having two birth certificates, in which Azam Khan and his wife, Dr Tanzin Fatma, were also added as accused.
A case was lodged against Abdullah Azam Khan and his parents under sections 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC. After investigation, the police filed the chargesheet in the court.
The court has given its verdict based on 30 witnesses and available documentary evidence.
The first birth certificate, issued on June 28, 2012, by Rampur Nagar Palika, showed Rampur as Abdullah Azam Khan’s birthplace. But in January 2015, a second birth certificate issued showed Lucknow as his birthplace.
Besides Abdullah’s date of birth in the educational certificate was January 1, 1993, whereas his date of birth according to his birth certificate is September 30, 1990.
The details of the date of birth given by Abdullah during the 2017 assembly elections was challenged in the high court by Nawab Kazim Ali Khan alias Naved Mian. He had alleged that at the time of elections in 2017, Abdullah Azam was less than 25 years of age. Despite that, he used his high school marksheet and other documents to furnish his details showing his age eligibility to contest the election.
After the hearing, the high court had disqualified Abdullah’s assembly membership and declared the election void.
Former SP MLA Abdullah Azam contested the elections for the second time in 2022 on SP ticket from Swar Tanda seat and he also won, but on February 14, 2023, the court convicted him in the 15-year-old Chhajlat case of Moradabad and sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment. He lost his MLA for the second time also.
The petitioner and BJP MLA Akash Saxena said that this is the victory of truth.
He said that it had been almost six years since he was fighting this case. Azam Khan did not give any evidence for his defence in the case but instead focused his mind on how to avoid this case, he claimed. The BJP MLA said, “Truth may be delayed but truth can never be hidden.”