The Uttar Pradesh government, in Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday, rejected the opposition charge that Samajwadi Party leader Mohammad Azam Khan has been framed in fake cases and the government has unleashed vendetta against the SP leader.
The issue was raised by SP MLA and former UP Assembly speaker Mata Prasad Pandey through an adjournment notice, alleging that the government is hounding Azam Khan.
The Supreme Court on July 22 had granted interim bail to SP MLA Azam Khan in a land-grabbing case, exercising its special powers under Article 142 of the Constitution as it flagged the “peculiar” circumstances of the matter.
Raising the issue in the assembly through adjournment notice, Pandey said Azam Khan was framed in false cases and he was imprisoned for two years. He said even after the Supreme Court granted bail to the SP MLA, there was no let up in vendetta by the state government against Khan and several cases had been registered against him in September.
Pandey alleged that fresh cases were being lodged against Azam Khan with the objective of cancelling his bail granted by the Supreme Court.
“Azam Khan is not a criminal. He is a 10-term MLA and was also a member of Rajya Sabha and was elected to Lok Sabha in 2019. His wife and son were also sent to jail in fake cases along with Azam Khan. He was kept in Sitapur jail like a hardened criminal in a small cell,” Pandey said, adding that he had visited Azam Khan in Sitapur jail and no political person was treated in such a shabby manner in the past.
Pandey said he had raised the issue in the assembly in the hope of justice for Azam Khan. “If we do not get justice in the assembly, where else will we go?” he said.
Opposing the adjournment notice, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna said, “I can never agree on the allegation that fake cases have been registered against Azam Khan and there is any vendetta against him.”
Khanna said since the case was sub judice he could not speak much on it.
“It is highly misleading and erroneous to claim that Azam Khan has been framed in fake cases. There are serious charges of illegal occupation of land under Enemy Property Act, river bed land and sand land measuring 32 hectares, which was included in the private Jauhar University promoted by Azam Khan,” Suresh Khanna said, and added, “He (Azam Khan) got four acre land of the Schedule Caste community registered in name of the university without obtaining the permission of the competent revenue authorities.
He rejected the charge of vendetta saying the government was committed to ensuring justice to all sections of society.
Khanna said on the complaint by Nanhe, son of Ali Bahadur, on September 17, a case was registered against Azam Khan in Kotwali police station of Rampur for allegedly threatening him to not testify against Azam Khan in a local court of Rampur.
Khanna said the case was registered by a Muslim. He said since Azam Khan was not present at the site of the incident he had been booked under Section 120-B of Indian Penal Code for criminal conspiracy.
Speaker Satish Mahana after hearing both the parties rejected the notice.
