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New Delhi, Nov 6 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the plea of senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan’s son and former Uttar Pradesh MLA Abdullah Azam Khan, seeking quashing of the FIR lodged against him for allegedly using forged documents to obtain a passport.
A bench of Justices MM Sundaresh and Prashant Kumar Mishra upheld the Allahabad High Court order and refused to quash the FIR, saying: “We are not inclined to interfere. However, we make it clear that the trial court is free to decide all the issues without being influenced by the High Court order.”
During the hearing, a bench headed by Justice Sundaresh said, “Have faith in the trial court. Let it be decided in the trial court. Why should we interfere now when the trial is already over?”
Earlier, the Allahabad High Court had rejected Abdullah Azam Khan’s plea to quash the FIR, saying that obtaining a fake birth certificate and later using it to obtain a passport were “distinct and separate acts”.
Abdullah was earlier convicted in another case for allegedly obtaining a false birth certificate by using fabricated documents. He argued that since the passport was issued on the basis of the same forged certificate, the risk of subsequent prosecution doubled.
A single-judge bench of Justice Sameer Jain held that the principle of double jeopardy did not apply as the two prosecutions were based on different facts and different crimes.
Holding that the petition was “devoid of merit”, the Allahabad High Court dismissed Abdullah Azam’s application.
“The instant application is devoid of merit and is accordingly dismissed. The trial court is directed to proceed with the trial in accordance with law.”
An FIR was registered against Abdullah Azam Khan under sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Civil Lines police station in Rampur district.
–IANS
PDS/VD