SP leader Abdullah Azam set free after 17 months

In a big relief to Samajwadi Party veteran and former cabinet minister Azam Khan and his family, his son Abdullah Azam on Tuesday walked free after spending nearly 17 months in Hardoi district jail.

The Rampur MP/MLA court granted him bail on February 18 in a case of forgery related to enemy properties’ documents.

In Rampur, his lawyer Zubair Ahmad Khan informed the media, “The court paved the way for Abdullah Azam’s release after it dismissed the Rampur police’s plea seeking permission to add two additional charges against him on February 17 and later granted him bail.”

“Azam Khan’s bail petition was also pending in the same case, but it was taken back due to some legal reasons,” he added. Azam and his son Abdullah were convicted in two cases while Azam’s wife Tazeen Fatma was convicted in one of the two cases.

Azam and his son lost their Vidhan Sabha memberships from Rampur and Suar assembly seats respectively after the duo was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment after convicted in road blockage case of 2008 by Moradabad MP/MLA court in February 2023. Later, they were granted in the road blockade case from a higher court.

A senior police official said Abdullah was in jail after the Rampur MP/MLA court, sessions court designated to try parliamentarians and legislators, on October 18, 2023, awarded seven years’ imprisonment to him as well as his father Azam Khan and mother Tazeen Fatma in the case of procuring his two birth certificates having different birth dates—one from Rampur and another from Lucknow.

However, Tazeen Fatma was released after spending over six months in jail when the Allahabad high court granted her bail in the same case in May 2024.

Abdullah Azam was freed from jail after completing legal formalities in 45 cases lodged against him over the years while Azam Khan continues to remain in jail as his bail is pending in the same case as well as in other cases. Fatma, Azam and Abdullah were lodged in three separate jails of Rampur, Sitapur and Hardoi respectively on administrative grounds.

Meanwhile, a senior official of Hardoi jail confirmed that Abdullah was released from jail at around 11.30 am on Tuesday after getting his release order sent from Rampur late on Monday night.

He said many of Abdullah’s supporters had gathered outside the jail since 8 am and additional police force had to be called to control the crowd. “Even Abdullah had to struggle to reach his vehicle due to the crowd after stepping out of jail,” he added.

A Rampur police official confirmed that Azam Khan and his son Abdullah was convicted in two cases including the road blockade case in Moradabad’s Chajjlet area in 2008 and the fake birth certificate case of Rampur in 2019 by local competent courts in February 2023 and October 2023 respectively.

Abdullah was granted relief from the Apex court in Chajjlet case on February 10, 2025, on grounds that he was a minor at the time of the incident, he added.

Sharing further details, the police official said over the years multiple cases were lodged Azam, his wife and son in allegations levelled against them in the past.

He said Azam Khan has around 108 cases pending against him while his son has around 45 cases against him while Azam Khan’s wife has been accused in around 30 cases.

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