On Monday (18th March), Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan was sentenced to seven years in jail in the Dungarpur case under IPC Sections 427, 504, 506, 447, and 120B. The Rampur MP/MLA court also imposed a fine of Rs 5 lac on the Samajwadi Party leader. Other than Azam Khan, the court convicted contractor Barkat Ali, retired CEO Ale Hasan, and former mayor Azhar Ahmad Khan in the case. The Samajwadi Party leader appeared before the court today via video conferencing from Sitapur Jail.
Notably, the case pertains to a property-related dispute in the Rae Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh. The Asra Awas shelters were constructed in Dungarpur, where some of the residents already owned homes, under the rule of the Samajwadi Party government. Back in 2016, there were allegations that the houses built there were illegally razed and victims accused officials of corruption.
On Monday, the Allahabad High Court dealt Azam Khan a major setback. The High Court rejected the plea of Azam Khan’s Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Trust. The Allahabad High Court rejected the appeal challenging the termination of the trust’s lease in Rampur by the CM Yogi Adityanath-led state government.
Notably, SP leader Azam Khan’s Rampur Public School was operating on leased land. Upon not receiving relief from the High Court, Azam Khan’s Rampur Public School will be closed. In addition to the school, many additional buildings were built on the leased place. The court reserved its decision on the 18th of December 2023, following the conclusion of the hearing in this case. The ruling was delivered by a division bench consisting of Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta and Justice Kshitij Shailendra.
It is worth noting that this is the fifth case wherein Azam Khan has been convicted in the last two years. On October 18, 2017, the Samajwadi Party leader’s son Abdullah Azam and wife Tanzeen Fatima were sentenced to seven years at Rampur MP/MLA court for using a fraudulent birth certificate.
On July 14, 2023, Khan was convicted by a Rampur court for hate speech during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. On February 14, last year, a Moradabad court sentenced Azam and his son Abdullah to two years in a 15-year-old case for traffic obstruction. On October 28, 2022, Khan was sentenced to three years in prison by a Rampur court for hate speech from 2019.
