SC grants interim bail to Azam Khan, asks him to move regular bail before concerned Court

New Delhi, May 18: The Supreme Court on Thursday granted interim bail to Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan in a case relating to Kotwali police station in Uttar Pradesh.

The apex court also directed him to file an application for regular bail before the competent court within two weeks.

The interim bail will operate till the court decides the application for regular bail. If the court's decision is against the grant of regular bail, the interim bail will operate for a further period of two weeks.

On May 17, the Supreme Court reserved order on the interim bail plea of Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan in a case relating to the Kotwali police station in Uttar Pradesh.

Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for Uttar Pradesh state, opposed Azam Khan's plea.

The Supreme Court had earlier expressed displeasure with the prolonged delay in pronouncement of judgement by Allahabad HC on Azam Khan's bail plea and had called it a 'travesty of justice'.

Allahabad High Court last week granted interim bail to Azam Khan in a case related to wrongful possession of the land.

In an application filed by Zafeer Ahmad, it was stated that Azam Khan was arrested in another FIR "which appears to be nothing more than a means to subvert justice and to prevent the petitioner from coming out of his prolonged and politically engineered incarceration".

Azam Khan has been lodged in judicial custody in another matter pertaining to Kotwali in Rampur.

"The state has in order to satisfy political vendetta, adopted all means available, to purposefully delay and deny the right to personal liberty to a senior opposition leader and a legislator who is an incumbent and ten-term Member of the Legislative Assembly, a two-time member of the Parliament, and an erstwhile Cabinet Minister of the State of UP across multiple terms," the application said.

The petition sought quashing the proceedings and grant of interim bail to the petitioner during the pendency of this Petition.

According to the application, the Case Crime No. 70/2020 dated March 18, 2020, registered at Police Station Kotwali, Rampur, UP, registered under Sections 420 and 120B IPC is a false and frivolous FIR wherein some alleged deficiency in the affiliation process of one of the schools being run by a trust has been "given a criminal colour".

"The said FIR was registered after the petitioner, his wife and son had already been taken into custody, and was a completely false and frivolous case where the petitioner was not named. The said FIR neither mentioned the date and time of offence nor disclosed the offence, alleged to have been committed," the petition said.

Khan has been lodged in Sitapur jail since February 2020 over cases registered against him.