Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, his son Abdullah Azam, and Azam Khan’s wife Tanzeem Fatima have been sentenced to seven years in prison. The MP-MLA court in Rampur has found the three guilty and declared the sentence. All three convicts have been instructed to be immediately taken to jail.
Abdullah Azam, who won the 2017 Lok Sabha elections from the Swar constituency, was charged with using a counterfeit birth certificate since he hadn’t reached the required age during the election. He was also convicted of possessing two birth certificates.
Charges of possessing two birth certificates
Abdullah Azam’s date of birth, as per the birth certificate used for his 2017 election campaign, was stated as 30th September 1990. This particular certificate was issued from Lucknow in 2015. Also, a second birth certificate was issued from Rampur in 2012, indicating his birth date as 1st January 1993, which also matches the date of birth on his educational certificates.
The birth certificate from the Rampur Municipality lists his birthplace as Rampur, whereas the one from Lucknow states his birthplace as Lucknow.
Abdullah Azam Khan is accused of obtaining a passport and making foreign trips on the basis of one of the birth certificates and using the other certificate for filing election forms. Both the certificates were issued fraudulently and under a pre-planned conspiracy.
Abdullah Azam’s assembly membership was cancelled twice
In this regard, a case was filed on behalf of BJP leader Akash Saxena in Ganj Kotwali on 3rd January 2019. After this case, Abdullah Azam lost his assembly membership. But in the year 2022, he again won the Swar Assembly seat. In this case, the MP-MLA court found him guilty this year and again he lost his assembly membership. In this case, the court has sentenced the three people to seven years imprisonment.
The Azam Khan family received a jolt from the court on 16 October 2022 regarding this matter. The family sought additional time and filed a revision, but their plea was dismissed when the MP-MLA court of Rampur requested the ADJ First Court for a hearing. Following this, the MP-MLA court handed down a seven-year jail sentence to Azam Khan, his wife Tanzeem Fatima, and Abdullah Azam.
Azam Khan has also been convicted and lost his assembly membership
Azam Khan has been convicted in two cases so far. In December 2022, he was sentenced to three years in jail by the court, after which he lost his assembly membership. Earlier this year, Akash Saxena won the Rampur by-election and became the first Hindu MLA from the Rampur assembly seat. Azam Khan, Abdullah Azam and Tanzeem Fatima have been sentenced to seven years each on the complaint of Akash Saxena.