Allahabad high court grants relief to Azam Khan, family in fake birth certificate case

PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad high court on Friday granted bail to Samajwadi Party veteran Azam Khan, his wife Tazeen Fatima and son Abdullah Azam Khan in the fake birth certificate case. However, the single-judge bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh only stayed the conviction of Azam Khan. The three family members were convicted by a Rampur court for forgery.

According to Nasir Sultan, Azam Khan's counsel, despite the court order, Azam Khan and Abdullah Azam will have to remain behind bars as several other cases are going on against them.

"I have not read the high court order yet, but following the bail order, Tazeen Fatima is likely to come out of jail," he said.

Earlier, on May 14, the high court had reserved its judgment on three connected criminal revision petitions filed by senior Samajwadi Party leader and ex-MP Azam Khan, his wife Tazeen Fatima and son Abdulla Azam Khan challenging the seven years' imprisonment awarded to them by the sessions court, Rampur, on October 18, 2023 in the alleged forgery case related to Abdullah's birth certificate. The court had reserved its judgment after hearing counsels for the appellants and counsels representing the state government at length.

According to the prosecution, the case dates back to January 3, 2019, when resident Akash Saxena, who is now the BJP MLA from Rampur, got a police case registered alleging that Azam Khan and his wife Tazeen Fatima got two birth certificates made for their son Abdullah Azam Khan.

Subsequently, the Rampur sessions court found the trio guilty on Oct 18, 2023, under sections 420 (cheating), 467(forgery valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), 472 (making or possessing counterfeit seal, etc., with intent to commit forgery), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and awarded seven years' imprisonment to all the three convicts.