Sitapur: Senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan walked out of the Sitapur Jail in Uttar Pradesh on Friday, May 20 morning, a day after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail in a cheating case.
Khan’s son and MLA Abdullah Azam, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohiya) leader Shivpal Singh Yadav and a large number of supporters welcomed the senior SP leader upon his release after 27 months.
Azam Khan had 88 cases, including that of land grabbing, registered against him. On Thursday, the Supreme Court granted him interim bail in a cheating case, paving the way for his release.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav welcomed Khan’s release.
“Hearty welcome to senior SP leader and MLA Azam Khan on his release on bail. With this bail decision, the Supreme Court has set new standards of justice. He will certainly be acquitted in all other false cases. Lies have moments, not centuries,” Yadav said in a tweet in Hindi.
सपा के वरिष्ठ नेता व विधायक मा. श्री आज़म ख़ान जी के जमानत पर रिहा होने पर उनका हार्दिक स्वागत है। जमानत के इस फ़ैसले से सर्वोच्च न्यायालय ने न्याय को नये मानक दिये हैं।पूरा ऐतबार है कि वो अन्य सभी झूठे मामलों-मुक़दमों में बाइज़्ज़त बरी होंगे।
झूठ के लम्हे होते हैं, सदियाँ नहीं!
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) May 20, 2022
Shivpal Singh Yadav posted on Twitter pictures with Khan outside the jail.
स्वागत एवं शुभकामनाएं। pic.twitter.com/7kcGQiqzDi
— Shivpal Singh Yadav (@shivpalsinghyad) May 20, 2022
The jailor of Sitapur prison, R.S. Yadav, said the release order was received around 11 pm on Thursday and after following all procedures, Khan was released around 8 am on Friday.
A Supreme Court bench headed by Justice L. Nageswara Rao 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 Uttar Pradesh government had earlier opposed Khan’s bail plea and termed him a “land grabber” and a “habitual offender”.
The apex court on May 17 had reserved its order after hearing the parties. It had earlier expressed displeasure over the delay in hearing the bail application of Khan, saying this was a “travesty of justice”.
Also read: SC Invokes Special Powers to Grant Interim Bail to SP Leader Azam Khan
After his release from jail, Khan visited the house of the Samajwadi Party’s ex-MLA Anoop Gupta before leaving for his native Rampur. Gupta had been in constant touch with Khan ever since he was lodged in Sitapur Jail.
During his 45-minute stay at Gupta’s house, Khan had breakfast and met his supporters and well-wishers who had come here from different places.
When Abdullah Azam was released from Sitapur jail, he had also visited Gupta’s home.
Khan, who is considered the Muslim face of the SP, had hit the headlines of late with leaders of different political parties visiting him in jail.
Shivpal Singh Yadav, who had met Khan in the jail last month, had used the opportunity to take pot-shots at his nephew Akhilesh Yadav’s SP for not taking up the jailed leader’s cause.
The PSP-L leader had said that he would soon put the matter before Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
Azam Khan’s camp, too, had expressed unhappiness with the SP chief, claiming that he has been ignoring the jailed MLA and the Muslim community, though it had voted for the party.
Azam Khan’s media in-charge Fasahat Ali Khan had accused Akhilesh Yadav of ignoring his colleague and the Muslim community, sparking speculations about a rift in the SP.
Fasahat Ali Khan had alleged that Akhilesh Yadav met Azam Khan only once in the jail and the party made no attempt for his release in the past two-and-a-half years.
Speculation that Azam Khan was not happy with the SP leadership got further momentum when party MLA and former Uttar Pradesh minister Ravidas Mehrotra, who had also gone to meet him in jail, was not allowed to meet him.
But a day later, Azam Khan met Congress leader and spiritual guru Pramod Krishnam, who visited him at the district prison
Amid a widening rift, Shivpal Singh Yadav did not rule out forming a front with Azam Khan.
When asked by a reporter about the chances of him and Khan forming a new front, Shivpal Singh at a programme in Farrukhabad had remarked that “a decision on this will be taken at the right time, after he comes out of jail.”