A special MP/MLA court in Rampur has delivered a significant verdict, sentencing former MLA Abdullah Azam Khan to seven years of rigorous imprisonment. The son of incarcerated Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan was found guilty of using forged documents to obtain his passport. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Abdullah.
Details of the Passport Forgery Case
The case, which dates back to 2019, was initiated based on a complaint filed by sitting BJP MLA Akash Saxena at the Civil Lines police station. The prosecution argued that Abdullah Azam Khan secured his passport by submitting fabricated documents. A key discrepancy highlighted was his date of birth. While his educational certificates, including the high school certificate, listed his birth date as January 1, 1993, his passport showed it as September 30, 1990.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Shobit Bansal found Abdullah guilty under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), and 471 (using as genuine a forged document). The judgment was delivered after the court examined five prosecution witnesses and 19 defence witnesses. Abdullah, who is already lodged in Rampur district jail, appeared for the hearing via video conference.
A String of Convictions and Pending Cases
This latest conviction marks the third for Abdullah Azam Khan. It comes nearly three weeks after a separate bench of the Rampur court sentenced both Abdullah and his father Azam Khan to seven years in jail in a related forgery case involving two PAN cards. The father-son duo has been in Rampur jail since their conviction in that case on November 17, 2025.
With these verdicts, senior leader Azam Khan has now been convicted in seven cases. The legal troubles are far from over for the family. As per official records, a staggering 77 cases against Azam Khan and 40 cases against Abdullah Azam Khan are still pending before the Rampur court. Since their incarceration began, courts have cancelled their bail in several of these pending matters.
Legal Arguments and Previous Disqualifications
Abdullah's defence had earlier moved the Allahabad High Court seeking to quash the passport case. His lawyer argued that since he was already convicted for using forged documents to obtain a date of birth certificate, which was later used for the passport, the current case amounted to double jeopardy. However, the High Court, in its order dated July 23, rejected this plea. The court observed that the two offences were prima facie different and had separate factual foundations. The Supreme Court later declined to interfere with this High Court order.
Abdullah's political career has been marred by these legal issues. He was disqualified from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly in 2023, just two days after his conviction in an older case of obstructing traffic. This was his second disqualification; the first came in 2020 when the Allahabad High Court set aside his 2017 election, ruling he was below 25 years of age when he filed his nomination papers.
The PAN card case, for which he was convicted last month, alleged that he used one PAN card matching his school records for banking, but submitted a forged PAN card with a different date of birth during the 2017 elections to claim false eligibility.
