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Azam Khan, family get bail in fake birth certificate case
Abdullah Azam Khan and his mother may be released immediately, but Azam Khan will only be released after the trial court record records a statement by the complainant in the case, said the court.
The Allahabad high court on Tuesday granted bail to Samajwadi Party MP from Rampur Azam Khan, his wife Tazeen Fatma and son Abdullah Azam Khan in a case related to them obtaining a fake birth certificate for Abdullah.
Abdullah Azam Khan and his mother may be released immediately, but Azam Khan will only be released after the trial court record records a statement by the complainant in the case, said the court.
Justice Siddharth passed the order on a bail applications filed by Azam Khan, his wife and son. The three had surrendered in February before a Rampur court after their bail applications in connection with the case related to the alleged fake birth certificate of Abdullah were rejected.
Last year, a first information report (FIR) was lodged by a person identified as Akash Saxena at the Ganj police station of Rampur, alleging that Azam Khan and Tazeen Fatima had got two birth certificates issued from two places— one dated January 28, 2012, from Nagar Palika Parishad, Rampur, and a second dated April 21, 2015, from Nagar Nigam, Lucknow -- relating to the birth of their son.
According to the bail applicants, the offence of obtaining a fake birth certificate would not go beyond the purview of Section 23 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, which provides that any information given for the purpose of being inserted in a register of births and deaths, which is known or believed by the person giving such information to be false, shall be punished with fine that may extend to Rs 50.
The state government opposed the bail application on grounds that the fake birth certificate was used by Abdullah Azam Khan to contest state elections, that his parents had helped him in obtaining the document, and if released on bail, may influence witnesses in the case.
In another case, the Allahabad high court on Tuesday granted bail to Abdullah Azam Khan and his mother for allegedly getting allotment of state land by cheating. The property was allotted to them in March 2014 after their bid of Rs 1,200 per month was found to be the highest.
Justice Siddharth allowed the bail application of Abdullah and her mother and directed the trial court to decide the case soon, preferably within a year.
The counsel for the petitioners argued that Fatma took the property on rent on the presumption that the property belonged to the Zila Sahkari Vikas Sangh, Rampur, and was not aware of the fact that it belonged to the district administration.
“Even if it is accepted that the property belonging to the state has been let out by Zila Sahkari Vikas Sangh, Rampur to the applicant illegally, then the termination of tenancy was the only remedy,” argued the counsel.
The state government counsel argued that Azam Khan, who was then a minister of the state government, used government machinery to create forged documents for extending undue gains to his wife and son.
