Abdullah Azam Shocked, Supreme Court says No Ban on Suar By-Election

Samajwadi party Leader and Son of Azam Khan got Shoked by supreme Court decision that By Election of Suar Assembly can not be stayed. But the Supreme Court t sought stand of the Uttar Pradesh government also on a plea by Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan.

The Allahabad High Court’s decision revoked for staying his conviction in a 15-year-old criminal case that led his disqualification as an MLA.

The top court clarify that the election to Suar assembly constituency, which fell vacant after Khan’s disqualification, scheduled for May 10, that shall subject to the outcome of the petition.

The bench stated while posting matter for hearing in 2nd week of July “Let the counter be filed. Let the election to be held on May 10 be subject to the outcome of this special leave petition.”

During the hearing, the bench asked Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, appearedd for the UP government, “Can we test the morality of an individual, convicted and sentenced? Can he not be an elected representative? If you are able to justify… if it makes him unfit to be a public representative. You have to demonstrate prima facie that he has done a crime in his own capacity.”

The top court clarified that it wasn’t examining Khan’s juvenility and looking at his prayer seeking stay on conviction.

Khan approached the supreme court against the order of April 13 Allahabad high court which refused to stay his conviction.

However, in February, Abdullah Azam Khan got awarded 2 years’ imprisonment in the case by a Moradabad court which administered his disqualification as MLA.

While rejecting his application, the high court observed that, “In fact, the applicant is trying to seek stay of his conviction on absolutely non-existent grounds. It is a well settled principle of law that stay of conviction is not a rule but an exception to be resorted to in rare cases.”

The court observed that, “Disqualification is not limited only to MPs/MLAs. Moreover, as many as 46 criminal cases are pending against the applicant. It is now the need of the hour to have purity in politics. Representatives of people should be men of clear antecedents.”

In 2008, a criminal case was registered against Abdullah Azam Khan and his father Azam Khan at Chhajlet police station in Moradabad under sections 341 (wrongful restraint) & 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Further, it was alleged that they blocked traffic after their vehicle was stopped by the police for checking.

The additional chief judicial magistrate sentenced the father-son duo to 2 years’ imprisonment and also imposed a fine of ₹3,000 each on February 13, 2023.