The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday granted bail to senior Samajwadi Party leader and Lok Sabha MP Azam Khan in connection with a case of illegal land-grabbing.
Khan will continue to be lodged at the Sitapur Jail, as orders in two other bail applications by Khan have been reserved but not pronounced yet.
In February, the Supreme Court had refused to entertain a plea filed by Khan seeking interim bail to campaign for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. Khan was a Samajwadi Party candidate.
Khan had told the Supreme Court that the government is “deliberately delayed proceedings in the three remaining bail applications” to prevent him from campaigning in the Assembly election.
Khan who had said the bail applications have filed in Uttar Pradesh courts in three different cases alleged that the prosecution has been “deliberately negligent.”
Khan, one of the tallest Muslim politicians in Uttar Pradesh, is facing around 100 criminal cases ranging from buffalo and goat theft to land-grabbing and electricity theft.
Khan’s son and SP’s young leader Abdullah Azam, who was also arrested by UP police, was released from Sitapur jail two weeks ago after spending 23 months in prison. He had as many as 43 cases registered against him.
Khan’s wife Tanzeen Fatima who is a former Rajya Sabha member and sitting Rampur MLA was also arrested in February 2020 in the same case and the Allahabad High Court in December 2020 granted bail to Tazeen Fatma in all 34 cases filed against her.
SP chief and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav had alleged that the BJP government is taking action against Azam Khan by adding his name to fake cases and vengeance.
As per the allegations of the Samajwadi Party, ever since the BJP came to power, the family of Azam Khan has suffered a lot as several alleged fake cases have been filed against this family.
