Azam Khan family's new address: Barrack number 1 at Rampur jail

RAMPUR: Senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and Rampur MP Azam Khan, his wife Tanzeen Fatimah and son Abdullah Azam were sent to judicial custody of six days by additional district and sessions judge Dhirendra Kumar Kamboj on Wednesday after the trio surrendered before the court in Rampur in a case involving the alleged forging of Abdullah’s birth certificate. The former UP cabinet minister along with his wife and son have been sent to the district jail and the next date of hearing is March 2.
The court while rejecting the anticipatory bail pleas of the three SP leaders had earlier declared them “absconders”. A local court on Tuesday had ordered “confiscation of their moveable and immovable properties” in connection with the forgery case.
The family had been ignoring court summons and were chargesheeted under various sections of the IPC for allegedly helping Abdullah obtain two fake birth certificates. Abdullah had allegedly gave an incorrect date of birth while filing his nomination papers for the assembly election. Following a high court order, he had lost his membership of the state assembly last December after he was found guilty of forgery. Azam and his kin have been booked in as many as 47 cases, ranging from "book theft" to land grab. The father-son duo were allegedly also involved in 11 criminal cases.
Dismissing the charges as “politically motivated”, Azam said he is “not just a foot soldier, but a warrior”. Several SP workers from Moradabad, Sambhal and Rampur had assembled outside the court room which had a heavy police presence.
Raising Azam’s health concerns before the court, counsel Khalilullah Khan said his client is a patient with blood pressure issues and is in need of regular medical attention. To this, the court said Azam and his wife "will be provided with all the facilities which an MP and MLA should get in custody”.
Rampur district magistrate Aunjaneya Kumar Singh told TOI, “Azam Khan, his wife Tanzeen Fatimah and son Abdullah Azam will get adequate security inside the jail as per the manual and they will be kept in the general barracks along with other prisoners.” Sources further said they would be kept in “barrack number 1”.
SP’s Sambhal unit president Feroz Khan said, “Our leader has been booked under several cases, which are all fake.” Police reportedly detained an agitated local SP worker outside the court premises.