Azam Khan’s son released from Sitapur jail after 23 months
Azam’s younger son Abdullah Azam was booked in 43 cases, ranging from theft to extortion and forgery, along with his father. He has been granted bail in all of these cases by lower courts in Rampur.
Lucknow : Abdullah Azam, son of senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan, was released on bail from Sitapur jail on Saturday evening, after almost 23 months of imprisonment.
“I will only say one thing that oppression will end after March 10 and the oppressor will also be removed from the throne,” Abdullah told reporters outside the jail, signalling towards the defeat of the BJP in upcoming assembly elections. Abdullah waved to his supporters waiting outside the gates of Sitapur jail before entering his vehicle.
Azam’s younger son Abdullah was booked in 43 cases, ranging from theft to extortion and forgery, along with his father. Abdullah has been granted bail in all of these cases by lower courts in Rampur. The release orders following bail were sent to Sitapur jail by late Saturday afternoon that cleared the way for Abdullah’s release.
Azam’s wife Tazeen Fatima, who is also a co-accused in many of these cases, was released from Sitapur jail in December 2020. Meanwhile, Azam Khan, who has more than 70 cases lodged against him on similar charges, is yet to get bail in all of them.
Abdullah won from Swar constituency on SP ticket in 2017 assembly election. However, hearing a case against him, the Allahabad high court in 2019 annulled his election as an Uttar Pradesh MLA on the ground that he was underage and not qualified to fight the poll in 2017.
The troubles for Azam Khan and his family started in 2017 when the BJP came to power in UP. Just a few months after the election, 10 cases were lodged against Azam Khan in revenue board by the then district magistrate of Rampur for procuring 104 acres of land belonging to people of Schedule Caste “against rules”.
In 2019, over 70 cases were lodged against Azam Khan and his family members for forgery, theft, extortion and other crimes within a few months. Majority of the cases pertained to encroachment of land that was usurped in the construction of the Jauhar University, of which Azam Khan is chairman. Azam Khan was also accused of stealing old books from a government school and keeping them in his library. Acting on the compliant, police raided Mumtaz library located inside Jauhar Ali University and recovered over 2000 old books from there. Considering the number of cases against him, the district administration also named him as land mafia in Rampur.
Khan criticised these cases at first but later succumbed to the mounting pressure and repeated court notices. He also tried to get anticipatory bail in many cases but in vain. Eventually in February 2020, Azam, his wife and son Abdullah Azam surrendered before an MP-MLA court in Rampur. On the court’s order the trio was later shifted to Sitapur jail.