Following 7-year jail term, SP leader Azam Khan, his son start process to get bail cancelled in several pending cases

Sources said applications for cancellation of bail in several other pending matters are also expected to be filed shortly, as part of the ongoing legal strategy.

According to the government and the accused’s legal counsels, the strategy is aimed at ensuring that the period spent in judicial custody is duly accounted for and adjusted against sentences, should convictions follow in the pending trials.

Azam Khan’s lawyer, Nasir Khan, confirmed that applications for cancellation of bail have been filed in the pending cases of both Azam and Abdullah Khan. He added that in several of these matters, the courts have already cancelled their bail.

On November 17, Azam Khan and Abdullah Azam Khan, who had been out on bail, were taken into custody after a Rampur court sentenced them to seven years’ imprisonment in a case related to the use of two PAN cards.

The court found both guilty of multiple offences, including forgery, using a forged document as genuine, criminal conspiracy and other related charges.

Azam Khan’s legal troubles started with a hate-speech case filed before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections – one of the first cases registered against him. According to UP Police records, more than 81 cases were filed after the BJP came to power in the state in 2017. Nearly 70 of them were registered in 2019 alone, and six more in 2020. These cases include allegations of land grabbing, cheating, vandalism, trespassing, hate speech and criminal intimidation.

So far, Azam Khan has been convicted in seven cases – six in Rampur and one in Moradabad – and Abdullah Azam Khan in two cases. Azam Khan has also been acquitted in six other matters. However, the state government has challenged some of these acquittals in higher courts, where the appeals are still pending.