Supreme Court rejects former UP MLA Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan's plea to quash proceedings

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed former Uttar Pradesh MLA Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan's plea challenging an order which refused to quash the proceedings in a case of allegedly using fake documents to obtain a passport.

A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma refused to interfere with the Allahabad High Court's July 23 order.

Khan is the son of senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan.

The high court had dismissed Khan's application seeking quashing of the proceedings in the case lodged at Rampur and directed the trial court to proceed with the trial in accordance with law.

Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj, appearing for Uttar Pradesh, told the apex court that trial in the case was over and matter was fixed for hearing arguments.

"Let the trial court decide it. Have faith in the trial court. Let it be decided by the trial court. Why should we interfere now when the trial is already over," the bench told senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Khan.

The bench said the trial court will be at liberty to decide all the issues without being influenced by the order passed by the high court.

In its order, the high court had noted that FIR in the case was lodged in July 2019 alleging that Khan had obtained his passport by using forged and fake documents.

The FIR claimed that date of birth of Khan in his educational records, including in high school certificate, was January 1, 1993 while in his passport, it was mentioned as September 30, 1990.

A charge sheet was filed against Khan for the alleged offences, including under sections 420 (cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the Indian Penal Code, and under section 12(1A) of the Passport Act.

Later, charges were framed against him for the alleged offences under the IPC.

Khan had moved the high court seeking quashing of proceedings on the grounds of the principle of "double jeopardy".

His counsel had argued in the high court that Khan was facing trial in the case and as per the prosecution, his birth certificate was also issued on the basis of fake documents.

He had argued that another FIR was lodged against him in connection with the birth certificate.

His counsel had contended before the high court that facts of both the cases were similar.

The high court had dismissed his application, saying it was "devoid of merits".

On July 29, the apex court had issued notice on Khan's plea challenging the high court order and said, "In the meantime, the proceedings shall go on but no judgment shall be delivered by the trial court".

During the arguments on Thursday, Nataraj said forging different documents at different point of time are distinct offences.