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Synopsis

The Allahabad High Court recently dismissed the plea moved by Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan, son of Ex-Minister Azam Khan seeking stay on the order of his conviction in a 15-year-old case that led to his disqualification as an MLA.

On January 2, 2008, information was received by the Moradabad police that a car in a suspicious condition from Moradabad to Kanth Road was coming. On getting the said information, the concerned Station Officer along with the police force reached the place of the incident and when they stopped the said car, it was found that the then MLA of Samajwadi Party and Ex-Minister Azam Khan was in that car. 

Thereafter, being upset as to why their car had been stopped by the police, Khan and his associates blocked the public road on Moradabad-Haridwar Highway and later on, 1000-1200 workers of the Samajwadi Party blocked the entire highway and started raising slogans.

Subsequently, an FIR was registered against the nominated accused persons under Sections 147, 353 and 341 IPC and Section 7 of Criminal Law Amendment Act. After investigations, police filed the chargesheets against Abdullah and other co-accused persons including his father.

The trial court, in February 2023, convicted Abdullah and his father Azam Khan for the offence under Section 353, Section 341 of IPC and Section 7 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act.

Abdullah then filed an appeal before the Sessions Judge, Moradabad along with an application for suspending the sentence and releasing him on bail. 

The appeal was admitted and the prayer for suspension of sentence till the disposal of the appeal had been allowed. However, the application for stay of conviction during the pendency of the appeal had been rejected.

Being aggrieved and dissatisfied by the aforesaid two orders, Abdullah moved the high court. 

Abdullah's counsel argued that on the date of the incident, he was a minor, however, the trial court illegally proceeded with the entire trial treating him to be an adult.

Moreover, he contended that in view of the judgment of the Apex Court in Mohd. Abdullah Azam Khan Vs. Nawab Kazim Ali Khan (2020), wherein, the question of Abdullah's minority had been dealt with and he had been held to be a 'minor', his criminal trial in the instant case should have proceeded as a 'minor'.

On the other hand, the Additional Advocate General submitted that during the course of the trial, Abdullah never claimed himself to be a minor. 

Even, at the time of recording the sentence, he did not raise any plea that at the time of the incident, he was a juvenile and rather stated that he was a highly educated person and was then a Member of the Legislative Assembly, the AAG submitted. 

The high court held the contention raised by Abdullah's counsel wholly unsustainable. "Until and unless the applicant has been held to be a minor, he cannot be extended the benefit of a minor as now claimed by him," said the court. 

Furthermore, the plea raised by the applicant that since he has been held to be a minor in the election petition, as such, in the instant criminal trial also, he should have been presumed to be a "minor"...is also wholly unsustainable and has no legs to stand, the court further held.

"Admittedly, proceedings of the election petition filed under Section 100 of the Representation of People Act and the civil appeal arising therefrom are based on an entirely different issue dealing with disqualification and has no bearing on the instant criminal trial as clarified by Hon'ble Apex Court," Court emphasized. 

Moreover, court underscored that as many as 46 criminal cases are pending Abdullah. 

"It is now need of the hour to have purity in politics. Representatives of people should be man of clear antecedent," Court observed while concluding that refusal to stay the conviction would not, in any way, result in injustice to Abdullah. Hence, court dismissed Abdullah's present plea. 

Case Title: Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan v. State of U.P