The Supreme Court on Thursday granted interim bail to Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan in a case related to forgery and criminal conspiracy [Mohammad Azam Khan v. State of Uttar Pradesh]..A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao, BR Gavai and AS Bopanna passed the interim bail order in exercise of its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution. "It is a fit case to exercise powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India," said Justice BR Gavai while reading the operative part of the order.The Court, however, also directed Khan to file for regular bail before the competent court within two weeks.Azam Khan had moved the Supreme Court seeking bail and quashing of proceedings under Sections 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 120B (punishment for criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC). Khan also prayed for a direction to the State of Uttar Pradesh to approach the Supreme Court before arresting him in future. .Khan has been languishing in jail since February 2020, facing 87 criminal cases ranging from buffalo and goat theft to land-grabbing and electricity theft.Despite the Allahabad High Court having granted him bail in multiple cases, Khan continues to be lodged at the Sitapur Jail, as orders in two other bail applications by him have been reserved but not pronounced yet.In February, the Supreme Court had refused to entertain a plea filed by Khan seeking interim bail to campaign for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.Last month, the top court asked Khan's counsel to first approach the High Court for bail.The present pleas, filed through advocate Lzafeer Ahmad BF, stated that Khan had secured bail in 84 of the 87 allegedly politically-motivated cases filed against him.The present matter related to a case of cheating against him in connection with grant of affiliation to a school he runs..Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Azam Khan, submitted that Khan does not run the school but is just the chairman of the school. "I don't run this school. I have not done anything. There is a letter which says that the custody of the petitioner is required for a rubber stamp? How can they seek recovery without recording statements? Now they are coming here and say they are threatened," Sibal had submitted..In its order, the top court noted that the Allahabad High Court's bail order was 40 pages long with stringent conditions of bail. The apex court said that the bail orders should not embark upon a detailed enquiry with regard to the merits of the case. The Court further noted that the High Court passed the order in bail application after a gap of six months. "The last of such bail order has been passed on 10th May, 2022 by the learned Single Judge of the Allahabad High Court after a gap of so many months from the date of reserving the order, i.e., December 4, 2021," the bench noted..Moreover, the Court observed that petitioner had been granted bail in all 87 cases except one case bearing registered at Police Station Kotwali under Section 420 and 120B of the IPC. It was observed by the top court that the petitioner was implicated after a delay of 1 year and 7 months on May 6, 2022. "It is not as if that the allegations which are now sought to be made against the petitioner could not have been made at that point of time. The main allegation against the petitioner in the said FIR No.70 of 2020 is that the certificates are forged. Further allegation is that the person who had issued the certificates was not authorized to issue those certificates," the order said..On the accusation of Khan threatening the investigating officer, the top court did not pass any remark, except stating that the it was a "matter of sheer coincidence" that the general diary entry with regard to the threats was registered on May 17, 2022 at 03:04 hours which is the date on which the matter was heard by the top court. .The Supreme Court, therefore, was of the view that it is a fit case for exercising its power under Article 142 of the Constitution and proceeded to grant bail to Khan. .[Read Order]
