Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — Senior Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA, Mohammad Azam Khan was released from Sitapur jail on Friday morning where he has spent the past 27 months.
He was received by senior party leader Shivpal Yadav and Ashu Malik and scores of supporters. His sons were also present on the occasion.
From the jail, he went straight to the residence of SP MLA Anup Gupta and later left for Rampur.
A heavy posse of policemen was posted outside the Sitapur jail to control the crowds.
आज़म खान सीतापुर जेल से हुए रिहा,2 साल 2 महीने 23 दिन बाद हुए जेल से रिहा!#WelcomeBackAzamKhan pic.twitter.com/ttRZf2genl
— Zakir Ali Tyagi (@ZakirAliTyagi) May 20, 2022
Journalist and activist Zakir Ali Tyagi who followed the case closely said Khan release came after two years two months two days.
Azam Khan’s lawyer Zubair Ahmad said they submitted two bail bonds of Rs one lakh each after which SP leader was released.
Sources, meanwhile, said Azam Khan will head to Rampur after his release.
“He does not want any fanfare outside the jail and will visit his home in Rampur,” said an aide of the SP MLA.
His wife Tanzeen Fatima thanked all “those who visited us and extended their support to us in our hour of crisis”.
Azam Khan was booked in a total of 89 cases related to book theft, buffalo theft, goat theft, land encroachment, land grabbing, forgery, fraud and power theft.
The Supreme Court had granted him interim bail on Thursday, giving the much-needed respite to the veteran leader.
Former Chief Minister and party leader Akhilesh Yadav welcomed his release in a tweet saying: “Lies have moments, not centuries!”
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
His son Abdullah Azam tweeted that his father’s release would bring him “like a sun out of the jail and the morning rays would eliminate the darkness of tyranny”.
(IANS Inputs)