The
Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to grant interim relief to Samajwadi Party
leader Azam Khan's son that the trial court in Uttar Pradesh be asked not to
pass a final order in a pending criminal case against him till his claim of
juvenility is ascertained.
The
top court, on September 26, had directed the Moradabad District Judge to decide
the aspect of juvenility of Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan in accordance with the
procedure under the Juvenile Justice Act and send the finding to it for further
consideration.
Referring
to this order, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Abdullah Azam Khan,
on Wednesday told a bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Prashant Kumar Mishra
that till the report on juvenility is filed, the other trial court be asked not
to proceed with a pending criminal case and convict the accused.
Heavens
are not going to fall if the trial court does not pass the final order...
Sometimes law stands in the way of justice. This is that kind of case, the
senior advocate said.
The
court, however, was not inclined to grant the relief and said: We find no
reason to pass any interim order at this stage. As per earlier order, post the
main matter after the report on juvenility is filed.
Earlier,
the top court had asked the Moradabad district court to ascertain the claim of
juvenility and send the report to it.
This
order was passed in a 2008 criminal case in which Abdullah Azam Khan was
convicted and was, consequently, disqualified as an MLA.
A
criminal case was registered in 2008 against Abdullah Azam Khan and his father
Azam Khan at the Chhajlet police station in Moradabad under sections 341
(wrongful restraint) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant
from discharge of his duty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It was alleged that
they had blocked traffic after their vehicle was stopped by police for
checking.
In
February, Abdullah Azam Khan was sentenced to two years' in jail in the case by
a Moradabad court, which led to his disqualification as an MLA in the Uttar
Pradesh Assembly.
On
May 1, the top court had sought the Uttar Pradesh government's response to a
plea moved by Abdullah Azam Khan, challenging the high court decision refusing
to stay his conviction in the 15-year-old criminal case.
The
top court had then clarified that the election to the Suar Assembly seat, which
fell vacant after Abdullah Azam Khan's disqualification, scheduled for May 10,
shall be subject to the outcome of his petition.
Apna
Dal's Shafeek Ahmed Ansari had won the Suar seat. Abdullah Azam Khan has claimed
that he was a juvenile when the incident took place.
Rejecting
his application, the high court had observed: "In fact, the applicant is
trying to seek a stay of his conviction on absolutely non-existent grounds. It
is a well-settled principle of law that a stay of conviction is not a rule but
an exception to be resorted to in rare cases." "Disqualification
is not limited only to MPs and MLAs. Moreover, as many as 46 criminal cases are
pending against the applicant. It is now the need of the hour to have purity in
politics. Representatives of people should be men of clear antecedents,"
the court had observed.
The
additional chief judicial magistrate (ACJM) sentenced the father-son duo to two
years' imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 3,000 each on them on
February 13. They were subsequently granted bail.
Two
days after the conviction and sentence, Abdullah Azam Khan was disqualified
from the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly.