The Allahabad High Court on Thursday granted bail to senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan and his son, Abdullah Azam, in connection with an ongoing case involving allegations of dual PAN card usage. While the court cleared the path for their release from prison, it explicitly declined their plea to stay their existing convictions, noting the pair's significant criminal histories.
A single-judge bench presided over by Justice Samit Gopal delivered the order, mandating that both individuals be enlarged on bail upon the completion of necessary legal formalities. Their counsel, Ankur Azad, confirmed that the father and son are expected to walk out of Rampur jail once these administrative procedures are finalized.
The legal proceedings stem from an FIR lodged on December 6, 2019, initiated by BJP leader Akash Saxena. The complaint alleged that Abdullah Azam Khan utilized two PAN cards featuring conflicting dates of birth. According to the allegations, one of the documents was used to fulfill age eligibility requirements for his 2017 nomination papers for the Swar assembly constituency. The complainant accused the pair of engaging in a premeditated conspiracy to forge documents and conceal factual data to obtain undue electoral advantages.
In November last year, a local court in Rampur convicted both men on various charges, including cheating, forgery, and criminal conspiracy. These sentences were subsequently upheld and enhanced by an appellate district court, leading to their confinement in Rampur jail.
During the bail hearing, Justice Gopal underscored the extensive criminal backgrounds of the petitioners. The court observed that Azam Khan faces 92 criminal cases, with eight prior convictions already recorded. His son, Abdullah, reportedly faces 46 criminal cases and has four prior convictions. The bench noted that numerous appeals against these convictions have already been dismissed by higher appellate courts, with many more cases remaining pending across various judicial forums.
Explaining the refusal to grant a stay on the conviction, the court stated, “Thus looking to the criminal antecedents of the accused/revisionists, their previous conviction(s), involvement in large number of criminal cases, no justifiable reason is coming forward for entertaining the plea for suspension of conviction.” Consequently, the court deemed it an unfit case to pause the legal ramifications of their earlier guilty verdicts.
However, the bench found grounds for granting bail based on the duration the two have already spent in custody. Records indicated that Azam Khan has served over four years and one month in prison, while Abdullah Azam has served more than three years and six months, including periods of remission. Given these detention periods and the nature of the sentences being served for a fixed term, the court concluded that the request for release from jail was warranted in this specific instance.
Following this order, the legal focus shifts back to the pending litigation. The court has scheduled the next hearing for the matter for January 2027. For now, the decision allows both politicians to exit custody, though they remain convicted in the matter as they await further judicial developments.
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