Allahabad High Court Stays Conviction of Samajwadi Party Leader Azam Khan in Fake Birth Certificate Case
On Friday, May 24, 3034, the Allahabad High Court granted relief to Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan in a case involving a fake birth certificate by staying his conviction. However, the court did not extend the same relief to his wife, Tanzeen Fatima, and son, Abdullah Azam, although their sentences were suspended, and they were granted bail.
Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh noted that Azam Khan’s case was distinguishable from that of his wife and son, and thus, the conviction against him would remain stayed during the pendency of his criminal revision.
The case originated on January 3, 2019, when Akash Saxena, now a BJP MLA from Rampur, filed a complaint against Azam Khan and his wife. The complaint accused them of obtaining two birth certificates for their son, Abdullah Azam Khan. According to Abdullah’s educational certificates, he was born on January 1, 1993, but a birth certificate issued on January 21, 2015, listed his birth date as September 30, 1990. The allegation was that the Lucknow Nagar Nigam-issued birth certificate was meant to facilitate Abdullah’s participation in the 2017 elections.
All three were convicted under various sections of the IPC, including 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using a forged document as genuine), and 120(B) (criminal conspiracy).
In July 2022, the Supreme Court dismissed Azam Khan’s plea to quash the charge sheet in the case.
On October 18, 2023, the Trial Court/Special Judge (MP/MLA), ACJM-I, Rampur sentenced the trio to seven years in prison for forgery, among other charges. Their appeals were subsequently rejected by the Additional Sessions Judge/Special Judge (MP/MLA/E.C. Act), Rampur, on December 23, 2023.
Following these rulings, the trio filed criminal revisions with the high court, seeking interim relief to suspend their convictions and sentences. The judgment was reserved by Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh on May 14, 2024.
In his ruling, Justice Singh observed that when asked for evidence of cheating or forgery committed by Mohammad Azam Khan, the State and the complainant’s counsel failed to provide any material proof. They argued only that his awareness of the birth certificate dated January 21, 2015, should imply his guilt.
“It is well settled that conjectures and suspicions should not replace legal proof as per Section 3 of the Evidence Act. At times, a case might be ‘may be true’, but there is a significant difference between ‘may be true’ and ‘must be true’, and this distinction separates conjectures from sure conclusions,” Justice Singh concluded.
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