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UPCC chief Ajay Rai not allowed to meet Azam Khan in Sitapur jail
SP veteran Azam Khan, his wife and son have been awarded seven-year imprisonment in a fake birth certificate case
The Congress attempted to play Muslim card with Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Ajay Rai and his team of party leaders reaching Sitapur jail to meet convicted senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mohammad Azam Khan on Thursday. Sitapur jail administration, however, did not allow the meeting saying Khan was unwilling to meet them.
Khan along with his wife Tazeen Fatma and son Abdullah Azam has been awarded seven-year imprisonment in a fake birth certificate case. While Khan has been lodged in Sitapur jail, his wife and son have been lodged in Rampur and Hardoi jails respectively.
The Congress team comprising Rai, UPCC organisation secretary Anil Yadav, UPCC minority department chairman Shahnawaz Alam and Sitapur district Congress committee president Utkarsh Awasthi reached Sitapur jail at about 1pm to meet Khan on ‘humanitarian’ grounds. Other Congress leaders were asked to meet Khan’s wife and son too at Rampur and Hardoi jails respectively.
“We went to meet Khan on humanitarian considerations and wanted to be with the SP leader at this point. The jail administration did not allow us to meet Azam Khan under pressure from the state government. We were not shown any documents indicating that Azam Khan was not willing to meet us. We only wanted to convey a sweet message that we are with Azam Khan in this hour of crisis. We had taken a fruit basket containing some apples with us and the jail administration agreed to deliver the same to Azam Khan,” said Rai.
UPCC organisation secretary Anil Yadav claimed that jail superintendent Surendra Kumar Singh informed the UPCC delegation that Khan was not willing to meet the Congress leaders. Yadav said the official quoted the jail manual to make his point that only two meetings were allowed to convict in a fortnight. Yadav said one of Khan’s sons had met the SP leader in Sitapur jail on Wednesday and so the latter was not willing to use the second meeting to explore his legal options in the case.
“We requested for telephonic conversation with Azam Khan (through jail PCO) and that too was not allowed,” claimed Yadav. “UPCC president Ajay Rai had sent a letter urging the district administration to allow a meeting of Congress leaders with Azam Khan. District administration or the jail administration are insensitive. They should have informed us of the decision taken on the UPCC president’s request. If there is a provision of allowing only two meetings in a fortnight, the administration should have communicated the same to us in advance,” said Utkarsh Awasthi.
A senior Congress leader said the party leaders were not allowed to meet Tazeen Fatma and Abdullah Azam in Rampur and Hardoi as well. Samajwadi Party spokesman Fakhrul Hasan Chand said the Congress and the BJP are two sides of the same coin. Chand alleged that UPCC Ajay Rai was apparently on deputation to the Congress from the BJP and he was speaking the BJP’s language.
The SP leader said his party was fighting for the cause of Khan and his family and if the BJP had been able to form its government in Uttar Pradesh, it was because of Congress’s anti-people policies. Chand said the Congress would not be able to make up its wrongdoings against the Muslims by just going to meet Azam Khan.
