Supreme Court refuses interim bail to Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan

Satya Prakash
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 7

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to grant interim bail to Samajwadi Party leader Mohammad Azam Khan who wanted to get enlarged to campaign during the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.

Currently lodged in the Sitapur jail, Khan faced several cases and has been behind the bars since February 2020.

While Azam Khan has filed his nomination papers as a Samajwadi Party candidate from Rampur assembly constituency while lodged in Sitapur district jail, his son Abdullah Azam Khan is a candidate of the same party from Suar assembly constituency in the ensuing assembly polls.

A Bench-led by Justice LN Rao asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Khan, to approach the Allahabad High Court where his bail plea was already pending.

The top court asked the high court to decide Khan’s bail plea expeditiously after Sibal submitted that Khan’s bail plea had not been taken up for hearing for three-four months despite repeated requests.

The top court asked Sibal not to talk politics in court after he talked about being a victim of political vendetta.

Azam Khan had last month moved the Supreme Court seeking interim bail to campaign for the ensuing assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

Stating that he has been granted bail in all other cases, Khan alleged that proceedings in three cases have been “purposefully” delayed to ensure that he remained in jail during the assembly elections.

The Uttar Pradesh assembly elections are scheduled to be held from February 10 in seven phases and counting of votes will be held on March 10.