SC grants interim bail to SP leader Azam Khan
NEW DELHI: In a relief to jailed Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, the Supreme Court Thursday granted him interim bail in an alleged cheating case paving way for his release, saying it is a fit case to invoke its extraordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution as facts in the present case are very peculiar.
The apex court also directed Khan to file for regular bail within two weeks and asked the trial court to decide it on merits without being influenced by any of the observations of the top court. “The petitioner is directed to be released on interim bail in respect of FIR being Case Crime No.70 of 2020, registered with Police Station Kotwali, Rampur, Uttar Pradesh for the offences punishable under Sections 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code on such terms and conditions as found appropriate by the trial court,” a bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao said.
The bench noted that “in ordinary circumstances, we would not have entertained the present writ petition.
The petitioner would have been directed to take recourse to the remedy available to him in law. However, the facts in the present case are very peculiar.”
The top court said though FIR, in this case, was registered on March 18, 2020, and the chargesheet was filed on September 10, 2020, Khan has only now been implicated, i.e., after a period of one year and seven months, by order dated May 6, 2022, passed by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Rampur.
“It is not as if 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. The further allegation is that the person who had issued the certificates was not authorized to issue those certificates.
“Taking into consideration the delay in the implication of the petitioner in FIR No. 70 of 2020 and the nature of the allegations made therein, we are of the considered view that it will not be in the interest of justice to deprive the petitioner of his personal liberty, particularly when in respect of 87 criminal cases/firs, which were the subject matter of Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 39 of 2022, he has already been released on bail,” the bench also comprising Justices B R Gavai and A S Bopanna, said.
The top court also noted that the last such bail order has been passed on May 10, 2022, by the 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 also rejected the submission of the Uttar Pradesh government that Khan has threatened the investigating officer (IO) in the case.
“Insofar as the contention that the petitioner threatened the IO is concerned, we may only observe that it appears to be a matter of sheer coincidence that the General Diary (GD) entry with regard to said threats is registered on May 17, 2022, at 03:04 hrs., i.e., the date on which the present proceedings were to come up for hearing and were heard. We, therefore, do not find it necessary to make any further comments thereon,” the bench said.