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UP polls: SC refuses interim bail to SP leader Azam Khan for campaigning
Khan, a Lok Sabha member, is contesting the elections from his home turf Rampur. He has been in jail since February 2020 in connection with cases lodged against him during CM Yogi Adityanath’s tenure
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused interim bail to Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan to enable him to effectively contest the February-March assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, saying he must go to either the trial courts or the Allahabad high court for relief.
A bench of justices L Nageswara Rao and BR Gavai said it cannot directly entertain a writ petition for granting bail in four cases.
Khan, a Lok Sabha member, is contesting the assembly elections from his home turf Rampur. He has been in jail since February 2020 in connection with cases lodged against him during chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s tenure.
Senior counsel Kapil Sibal, who represented Khan, submitted his client has been booked in 88 criminal cases. “We are at our wit’s end. There are 88 FIRs (first information reports) against him and he has been granted bail in 84 of them. We are here for an interim bail in four cases so that he can effectively contest the upcoming election,” Sibal said.
The bench replied such a petition under Article 32 (writ jurisdiction to protect fundamental rights) may not be maintainable. “How can you file an Article 32 petition for bail? You go to the high court,” it said.
Sibal said the FIRs are the results of a political vendetta against his client. He added one FIR is 16-year-old and another relates to the criticism of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological fountainhead of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. “Where do we go? We go to the high court and the court does not even get my files. It goes to a judge who does not have the case.” He added his client is in prison for nothing. “On a single day, 25 FIRs were filed.”
The bench said: “Please, don’t bring all this politics to the court. How can we grant him bail to him in cases from here? You will have to go to the high court. Make a request before the chief justice there.”
In its order, the top court said Khan is at liberty to approach the high court and seek expeditious disposal of his bail petitions. “Needless to mention, the court will take into account his assertion regarding loss of liberty.”
In his petition, Khan said the state government has “adopted all means available” to delay the proceedings on his remaining bail applications to ensure that he remains incarcerated during the elections and cannot campaign.
Elections to the 403-member assembly in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases from February 10 to March 7 and the counting of votes will take place on March 10.
SP has also named Abdullah Azam, Azam Khan’s son who was in jail for two years and is out on bail, as the candidate for Suar. Abdullah Azam contested the 2017 election from Suar and won. In December 2019, the Allahabad high court cancelled his election saying he was aged under 25 when he filed his nomination.
