Azam Khan, wife and son convicted for forgery: What was the case

The complaint

The complaint said that Azam Khan, Tanzeen Fatima and Abdullah Azam Khan under a conspiracy and for personal gain, got two birth certificates made for Abdullah from two different places. The first one was made from the Rampur Municipality on June 28, 2012, and it was issued after a letter of oath was submitted by Azam and Tanzeen. The first certificate allegedly showed Abdullah’s place of birth as Rampur.

The complaint further claimed that on January 21, 2015, a second birth certificate was made from the Lucknow Municipal Corporation and was based on documents from the Queen Mary Hospital in Lucknow. In the second certificate, the place of birth was shown to be Lucknow.

“The first birth certificate was misused for issuing a passport (for Abdullah) which was used for travel abroad. The second certificate was used for government documents, and for getting affiliation for the Jauhar University in Rampur,” the complaint said.

The Prosecution’s case

In all, 15 prosecution witnesses were examined by the court. A total of 70 documents were submitted in court by the prosecution. The case rested on the main allegation that the three accused conspired to get two birth certificates for personal gain. It was also argued that when the second certificate was issued, the accused didn’t declare that another birth certificate with Rampur address existed.

The prosecution team told the court that the complainant accessed forged documents used for getting the birth certificate through the Right to Information Act.

The second birth certificate was made because Abdullah wanted to contest the state election in 2017 and the second certificate had 1990 as his year of birth, while the first one had 1993 as his year of birth.

“The main evidence in the case was the 70 documents submitted by us in the court,” said Joint Director (Prosecution), Rampur.

The defence

In total, 19 defence witnesses were examined in the court in the case. The defence for Azam Khan and others argued in court that the prosecution couldn’t establish a motive for the crime and criminal intent of the accused. It was also argued that there was a delay in lodging the FIR and that no reason was given for this by the prosecution.

“The complainant has come under pressure from senior officers, and has lodged the case under political influence,” submitted the defence. It was also submitted the investigating officer has not been fair in the probe. The defence’s case emphasised that the accused were wrongfully framed in the case because of “political enmity”.

The conviction and scope for appeal

The three have been convicted under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged 1[document or electronic record]) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy).

The three convicts, lodged in Rampur jail, can file an appeal in a higher court against the judgement holding them guilty.

Other cases in which Azam has been convicted

In July, a Rampur court sentenced Azam Khan to two years of imprisonment in a hate speech case lodged during the 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign. The court later granted bail to him.

In February, a Moradabad court sentenced Khan and his son Abdullah to two years imprisonment in a 15-year-old case, in which they were booked for blocking traffic after their vehicle was stopped by police for checking. The court, however, granted bail to both of them. Abdullah was disqualified from the Assembly.

In October last year, Khan was sentenced to three years of imprisonment by a Rampur court in a different hate speech case, also lodged during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The case related to the alleged use of improper language against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and others. The conviction led to his disqualification from the Assembly and resulted in a bypoll that was won by the BJP.