Decide SP leader's appeal in 6 months: Supreme Court to Moradabad court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed a Moradabad court to decide within six months the appeal of Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan, son of SP leader Azam Khan, in a 2008 criminal case.

A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Rajesh Bindal said the district and sessions court may treat Khan as juvenile on the date of offence while deciding his appeal against the conviction.

A case was registered in 2008 against Khan and his father at the Chhajlet Police Station in Moradabad under Sections 341 (wrongful restraint) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of IPC. It was alleged that they had blocked traffic after their vehicle was stopped by police for checking.

Khan moved the apex court against an April 13, 2023 order of the Allahabad High Court, refusing to stay his conviction, which led to his disqualification as an MLA.

In February 2023, Khan was sentenced to two years' in jail in the case by the Moradabad court.

On Tuesday, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Khan, said a report on his claim of juvenility had come in his favour from the trial court.

He said Khan was seeking the suspension of his conviction till the pendency of the appeal.

The bench said the sessions court was already hearing the appeal in the matter and the maximum it could do is ask the court for an expeditious disposal of the appeal against conviction.

The bench ordered the district and sessions court at Moradabad to decide the appeal preferably within six months.

Sibal further said with the report on his juvenility claim being available, the sessions court could be directed to consider it while deciding the appeal.

The bench asked the district and sessions court to treat Khan as a juvenile on the date of the offence.

On May 3, 2024, the top court took into account the report of the district judge, Moradabad, UP on Khan's juvenility claim.

On September 26, 2023, it asked the Moradabad district court to ascertain his claim of juvenility and render a finding in accordance with the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act.

The top court asked the UP government's response to Khan's plea against the high court decision refusing to stay his conviction in the criminal case on May 1, 2023.

The high court observed Khan was trying to seek a stay on his conviction on "absolutely non-existent grounds".

"Disqualification is not limited only to MPs and 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," it added.

The additional chief judicial magistrate sentenced the father-son duo to two years' imprisonment and imposed a Rs 3,000 fine each on February 13, 2023.

They were subsequently granted bail.