'Criminal History Of Applicant Starts From 2019 Only, 54 Case Registered After Change In Govt.': Allahabad HC Grants Bail To Azam Khan's Aide

"The criminal history of the applicant starts from the year 2019 only. The 54 cases lodged against the applicant are after the change in the government of the State. Earlier, he had 3 cases against him wherein final report has been submitted. Those cases are regarding minor offences," a Bench of Justice Siddharth observed while directing the Applicant's release on bail upon furnishing a personal bond.

The allegation against the Applicant, retired Deputy Superintendent of Police from UP, was that he belied about existence of certain Judicial order and was in possession of a forged Aadhar card and identity card.

It was alleged that on being caught by the police, the Applicant-accused produced a copy of stay order of the High Court dated 04.08.2020, passed in Cr Misc. WP No. 1751/2019. However, there was no stamp or signature on the order of the High Court. On verification from the official website of the High Court, it was discovered there was no such order and the said writ petition was pending.

The State had vehemently opposed the bail plea on the ground that the Applicant has criminal history of 57 cases.

Findings

The Court was inclined to allow the bail application on two counts:

(i) The allegations against the Applicant in the FIR were not fully correct inasmuch as "The allegation that the Criminal Misc. Writ Petition No. 1751 of 2019 was found pending by the Investigating Officer on 10.08.2020 is belied from the order dated 22.01.2019 passed by this Court disposing of the aforesaid writ petition."

(ii) Allegation of recovery of forged Aadhar card and I.D. proof were only allegations at this stage and the applicant had not admitted that he was having any such documents in his possession.

Accordingly, the Court said,

"Keeping in view the nature of the offence, argument advanced on behalf of the parties, spreading of novel corona virus in jails, evidence on record regarding complicity of the accused, larger mandate of the Article 21 of the Constitution of India and without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, let the applicant involved in the aforesaid crime be released on bail on his furnishing a personal bond and two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned".

On the State's contention that the Applicant was a history sheeter, the Court said that the cases against him were registered only after a change in State's political power from SP to BJP in 2019.

The Applicant claimed to be a recipient of the Presidential Gallantry Award for his outstanding service in Police. He had submitted that a number of cases were registered against him at the behest of the State machinery.

The Applicant's counsel had submitted,

"The applicant is in jail since 11.08.2020 and has criminal history of 57 cases. All the cases have been registered after the government has changed and there were only 3 cases registered against him prior to the year 2019 wherein final reports have already been submitted. In most of the cases, anticipatory bail has been granted to the applicant and in most of the other cases, he is on bail."

Case Title: Aley Hasan Khan v. State of UP

Appearance: Senior Advocate Syed Farman Ahmad Naqvi with Advocates Zaheer Asghar and Syed Ahmed Faizan (for Applicant); Additional Advocate General Vinod Diwakar, Government Advocate SK Pal, AGA Jai Narayan and Advocate Abhijit Mukherji (for State)

Click Here To Download Order

Read Order