Being treated like a terrorist in jail: Azam

Samajwadi Party leader and Lok Sabha member from Rampur, Mohammad Azam Khan, alleged that he was “being treated like a terrorist” in the Sitapur district jail.

Denying the charge, the jail superintendent said that the jailed MP was being given all facilities as per the Jail Manual.

Khan was taken to Rampur jail from Sitapur district jail for a hearing before the Special MP/MLA Court on March 2.
On February 26, the Special MP/MLA Court of Rampur had sent Azam Khan, his wife Tazeen Fatma and son Abdullah Azam to jail till March 2. The trio had surrendered in connection with a forgery case related to two birth certificates of Abdullah Azam.

Before heading for Rampur on Saturday, Khan told reporters outside Sitapur district jail that he was being treated like a terrorist in the prison.

Azam Khan was lodged in a high security room in Sitapur jail along with his son, while his wife was lodged in the women’s barrack.

The SP MP spent a sleepless night in the jail while his wife complained of acute back pain.
The SP leader was sent to Rampur under tight security with around 40 policemen, including several women constables, guarding their vehicles.

Abdullah Azam Khan was disqualified from the membership of UP Legislative Assembly and the Suar Tanda seat in Rampur which he represented was declared vacant on Thursday.

The development came after the Allahabad High Court set aside the election of Abdullah Azam, maintaining that he was not qualified to contest the poll as he was below 25 years of age when he filed his nomination papers as SP candidate from Suar Tanda seat in 2017.

Azam Khan’s arrest is being seen as a big set back to Samajwadi Party, which suffered three successive defeats at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014, 2017 and 2019.

The ascent of the lawyer-turned-politician during the last three decades significantly contributed to the rise of Samajwadi Party with the consolidation of Yadav-Muslim votes.

The expected marginalisation of Azam Khan as a Muslim mascot in UP could pave the way for the Congress to make a dent in the Muslim vote bank of the SP.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been aggressively wooing the Muslims and she visited several towns where Muslims suffered causalities during anti-CAA violence on December 20.