A special MP-MLA court on Wednesday granted interim bail to Dr. Tazeen Fatima, wife of senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, and their son Adeeb Azam Khan in a case related to the destruction of records involving enemy property. This decision comes a day after Azam Khan’s other son, Abdullah Azam, was also granted interim bail in a separate property-related case.
The interim relief was granted by Special Court Magistrate Shobhit Bansal after the accused surrendered before the court. Advocate Zubair Ahmed Khan, representing the applicants, stated, “This was a 2020 case with allegations concerning the destruction of records in the record room linked to enemy property. Today, Dr. Tazeen Fatima and Adeeb Azam Khan surrendered before the court, and after hearing the arguments, the court granted them interim bail.”
The case adds to the long list of legal battles faced by the Azam Khan family. Abdullah Azam, who has been in Hardoi jail since October 2023, recently secured bail from the Supreme Court on February 10, 2025. The bail in the enemy property case was the only remaining hurdle for Abdullah, who was previously convicted in 2023 for wrongful restraint and assault on a public servant in a 2008 incident.
Azam Khan, the patriarch of the family, remains incarcerated in Sitapur jail, facing multiple criminal cases. His political career suffered a significant blow when he was disqualified from the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 2022 after receiving a three-year jail sentence in a 2019 hate speech case. Despite this, Azam Khan had made electoral history by winning the Rampur Sadar assembly seat for a record tenth time in the 2022 elections before stepping down from his Rampur parliamentary seat, which he had won in 2019.
Abdullah Azam also faced disqualification from the state assembly after a Moradabad court sentenced him to two years in prison in 2023. As per the Representation of the People Act (RPA), 1951, a person sentenced to two or more years of imprisonment is disqualified from holding public office from the date of conviction and remains disqualified for six additional years after completing the sentence.
