Order reserved on Azam son’s plea for stay on conviction

Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday reserved its judgment on a criminal application filed by Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan, son of senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, seeking stay of his conviction and two years’ sentence awarded by Moradabad court in a criminal case registered against him in 2008. Justice Rajiv Gupta passed the above order after hearing at length the counsels for both Abdullah and the state government.
A criminal case was registered in 2008 against Abdullah Azam Khan and his father at police station – Chhajlet of Moradabad under Sections 341 (wrongful restraint) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the IPC. It is alleged that they had blocked traffic after their vehicle was stopped by the police for checking in Moradabad.
The additional chief judicial magistrate (ACJM) on February 13, 2023 sentenced Azam Khan and his son Abdullah to two years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 each. Later, they were granted bail after submitting the required surety.
In another development, however, two days after the conviction and sentence, Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Abdullah Azam Khan was disqualified from the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly on February 15, 2023, in the 15-year-old case. The disqualified SP leader Abdullah, who represented the Suar Assembly constituency of Rampur, is the son of Azam Khan, senior leader of Samajwadi Party, former cabinet minister of the state and formerly a 10-term MLA from Rampur Sadar.
During the court proceedings, the counsel for the applicant submitted that on the date of the incident the applicant was a Juvenile, as such his order of conviction be stayed by the court. On a pointed query put to the counsel, it was stated that the application on the basis of which the order under challenge was passed is not on record.