Dual PAN card case: Allahabad High Court grants bail to Azam Khan, refuses stay on conviction

The Allahabad High Court on Thursday granted bail to Samajwadi Party leader Mohd Azam Khan and his son Abdullah Azam in the dual PAN card case [Mohd Azam Khan vs State of UP and 3 others].

Justice Samit Gopal suspended their sentences while their revision petitions challenging their conviction are pending.

The Court observed that Khan and his son had already served substantial portions of their fixed-term sentences.

"Looking to the nature of occurrence, period of detention of the accused/revisionists, the fact that the case in hand is for a fixed term of sentence, the present case is a fit case where the accused/revisionists... be enlarged on bail," the Court said.

The case stems from a 2019 complaint by BJP leader Akash Saxena alleging that Abdullah Azam Khan in a planned conspiracy with his father procured a second PAN card with a forged date of birth to bypass age criteria to fraudulently contest the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls from Rampur's Suar constituency.

In November 2025, a Rampur Special MP/MLA Magistrate court convicted the accused under various provisions of Indian Penal Code and awarded up to 7 years of imprisonment. On appeal in May 2026, the Sessions Court enhanced the punishment up to 10 years for Azam Khan and seven years for Abdullah Azam.

Appearing for the convicts, Senior Advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and N I Jafri, assisted by Advocate Shashwat Anand, submitted that while Azam Khan had undergone over four years and one month in custody, Abdullah Azam had served over three years and six months.

Opposing the plea, Additional Advocate General Anoop Trivedi and counsel for the informant argued that the convicts actively forged statutory documents to manipulate elections.

Admitting the criminal revisions, the High Court expedited the matter and listed it for final hearing in the third week of January 2027.

While the Court granted bail to Khan and his son, it refused to stay their conviction.

The denial of relief means they remain disqualified from contesting elections in view of the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Highlighting Supreme Court rulings on curbing the criminalization of politics, the bench referred to the criminal antecedents of the convicts.

While Khan faces 92 criminal cases with eight prior convictions, his son is alleged to be involved in 46 cases with four prior convictions.

"Thus looking to the criminal antecedents of the accused/revisionists, their previous conviction(s), involvement in large number of criminal cases, no justifiable reason is coming forward for entertaining the plea for suspension of conviction," the Court said.

[Read Order]