Allahabad HC refuses to stay Abdullah Azam’s conviction in 2008 case
A criminal case was registered against Abdullah Azam and his father and senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan at Chhajlet police station in Moradabad district 15 years ago
The Allahabad high court on Thursday refused to stay the conviction of Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan, the son of senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan, in connection with a criminal case registered against him in 2008 where he was awarded two years’ sentence by a Moradabad court which led to his disqualification as an MLA from the Uttar Pradesh assembly.
Rejecting his application, Justice Rajiv Gupta observed, “In fact, the applicant is trying to seek stay of his conviction on absolutely non-existent grounds. It is well settled principle of law that stay of conviction is not a rule but an exception to be resorted to in rare cases. Disqualification is not limited only to MPs/MLAs. Moreover, as many as 46 criminal cases are pending against the applicant. It is now need of the hour to have purity in politics. Representatives of people should be man of clear antecedents”.
“In the backdrop of the said circumstances, refusal to stay the conviction would not, in any way, result in injustice to the applicant. The order under challenge passed by the Moradabad court is just proper and legal and do not call for any interference,” the court observed.
A criminal case was registered in 2008 against Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan and his father at Chhajlet police station in Moradabad district under sections 341 (wrongful restraint) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
It is alleged that they had blocked traffic after their vehicle was stopped by the police for checking in Moradabad. On February 13 this year, the additional chief judicial magistrate (ACJM) sentenced Azam Khan and his son Abdullah to two years’ imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹3,000 each. Later, they were granted bail after submitting the required surety.
However, two days after the conviction and sentence, SP MLA Abdullah Azam Khan was disqualified from the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly on February 15, 2023. Abdullah represented the Suar assembly constituency of Rampur district.
