Senior SP leader Azam Khan gets two-year jail term in ‘polish shoes’ remark case

Lucknow: A court in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur district on Saturday sentenced senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and former UP minister Azam Khan to two years imprisonment in a case pertaining to making objectionable comments on the then district magistrate of Rampur.

Special magistrate MP/MLA Court Shobhit Bansal also imposed a fine of Rs 20 thousand on Khan.

The case pertained to the reported remarks by Khan on the then district magistrate of Rampur during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Khan, while speaking at a road show in the district, had remarked that ‘’these (DM and the likes) are mere hirelings ... .don't be afraid of them ... .after the elections I will make them polish shoes’’.

A case was later registered against him after a video purportedly containing his remarks went viral on social media, and a charge-sheet was filed in the court after investigation.

Khan was already serving a seven year sentence along with his son Abdullah Azam in a case pertaining to obtaining Pan Cards with the help of forged documents.

BJP MLA Akash Saxena had lodged a complaint with the police in 2019 alleging that Abdullah Azam had obtained two Pan Cards bearing different dates of birth using fake documents. It was alleged that one of the Pan Cards had January 1, 1993 as his date of birth while the other one had December 30, 1990 as his date of birth.

The second Pan Card was submitted by Abdullah Azam with his nomination papers while filing nomination to contest the assembly elections from Swar Tanda seat in 2017. Abdullah had won the seat.

Saxena had alleged in the complaint that Abdullah had used the other Pan Card to fulfil the age criteria in the polls. It was also alleged that Azam Khan was also involved in this conspiracy.