On Azam Khan's plea, court bars transfer of SP leader, son outside Rampur jail without permission

Rampur (UP), Nov 19 (PTI) The Special MP/MLA Court in Rampur on Wednesday directed that senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan and his son Abdullah Azam Khan be kept in the Rampur district jail and not be shifted to any other facility without its prior permission.

Special Judge Shobhit Bansal gave the order on an application by Khan pleading that he be lodged in Rampur district jail due to "poor health" and the fact that over 100 cases are pending against him, along with about 45 cases against his son, most of which are being heard in Rampur. He also pleaded that his son be kept with him in the same jail as he required assistance due to his medical condition.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the court ordered the Rampur jail superintendent to ensure that the hearings in the cases pending against Azam Khan take place in Rampur and the two should continue to be lodged in the district jail.

The court further directed that Azam Khan, a former UP minister, be provided “superior class” or Class-I facilities in jail, considering his health condition and political stature.

Adequate medical care must also be ensured for him, the order said. The directive is being seen as a significant relief for Khan, as the Rampur district jail is located close to his residence.

Following his conviction on November 17, 2025, Azam Khan had moved the application.

The prosecution opposed the plea, arguing that the accused had been citing different ailments during the hearings in various cases without substantiating his claims. It maintained that the transfer of prisoners was an administrative matter and the application was not maintainable.

The court, however, allowed Khan’s request and barred authorities from transferring the two to any other district jail without its explicit nod.

Less than two months after he was released from Sitapur jail, Azam Khan on Monday went back behind bars when the court convicted him and sentenced him to seven years' imprisonment in a 2019 case related to obtaining two PAN cards using different dates of birth.

The special MP-MLA court had also sentenced Azam Khan's son, Abdullah Azam, to seven years' imprisonment in the same case.

The veteran SP leader was released from the Sitapur jail on September 23 after 23 months.

The case was lodged in 2019 at Rampur's Civil Lines police station by BJP leader Akash Saxena under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using forged document) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy).

According to the prosecution, Abdullah obtained a PAN card from the Income Tax Department mentioning January 1, 1993, as his date of birth, which matched the date in his school and High School certificates.

The same date was also used in the records of his State Bank of India account operated by him.

The court held that Abdullah had procured the forged PAN card "in conspiracy with his father" and submitted it in official records.

Among the cases pending against Khan are those of alleged land grab, graft, criminal intimidation, goat theft and cheating.

This was the fourth case in which he was convicted. He has been acquitted in four cases, while others are still pending. PTI COR ABN RT