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Synopsis

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan seeking direction to quash the charge sheet in his son Abdullah Azam Khan's birth certificate forgery case.

A bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Vikram Nath said that they could not find any reason to interfere with the matter.

The bench was hearing the plea challenging the Allahabad High Court order refusing to quash the chargesheet in the case. Allegations against the father & son are that they presented a forged birth certificate of Abdullah.

As per Abdullah’s educational certificates, he was born on January 1, 1993 whereas according to his birth certificate, his date of birth was September 30, 1990. It has been alleged by the prosecution that the birth certificate issued by the Lucknow Nagar Nigam was meant to help Abdullah to participate in the 2017 elections and his AADHAAR card & PAN cards were also not issued before 2015. 

Earlier, the top court, as an interim order, had granted bail to Azam Khan and Abdullah Khan, after the Allahabad High Court refused to allow the same. Court had issued directions stating that they be released on Bail after the Trial Court in UP records the statement of Azam Khan, within four weeks.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for Azam Khan had submitted that there are 2 different FIRs registered against Khan with regard to Pan Card and Passport issues.

It was added that although Azam Khan has been granted bail in the main case, the UP government continues to file cases against him in order to keep him in jail.

The First Information Report in the case was registered against Azam Khan for offences under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 120B of IPC & against Abdullah Khan for offences under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 of IPC & Section 12(1A) Passport Act, 1967. 

Case Title: Mohammad Azam Khan Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh