Krishnadas Rajagopal New Delhi
The Supreme Court on Friday allowed 73-year-old Samajwadi Party leader Mohammed Azam Khan regular bail in a land grabbing case while criticising a tendency in High Courts to make “completely unrelated” remarks against accused persons and imposing “extreme conditions” on them for bail.
A Bench of Justice A.M. Khanwilkar noted how Mr. Khan’s case was an example of the “new trend” seen in the High Courts.
The High Court had variously described Mr. Khan a “political heavyweight” of Uttar Pradesh, “political boss”, “virtual political giant” while granting him interim bail considering his age and medical condition in an order on May 10.
It had then imposed several conditions for converting his interim bail to a regular one, including that he “fully cooperates” with the measuring, walling and barb-wiring of a 13.842-hectare evacuee property which is the focal point of the land-grabbing case. The property is attached to the premises of the Mohammad Ali Jauhar University, the Uttar Pradesh politician’s “dream project” in his constituency. He is a member of the board of trustees of the university.
The High Court had further ordered that his chances for a regular bail would depend on the Rampur District Magistrate giving the “final nod” to the completion of the exercise of measuring, securing and taking of actual possession of the disputed land by the local authorities on behalf of administrator of evacuee property by June 30, 2022 without meeting with any “hindrance or obstacles” from either Mr. Khan or the university.
The High Court had gone to the extent of requesting the custodian of the evacuee property to hand over the property to “some paramilitary forces for their training purposes”.
Mr. Khan, represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal and advocate Nizam Pasha, had challenged the “unrelated” observations made by the High Court while considering a plea for bail.
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