Samajwadi Party to hold cycle rally in support of Azam Khan, his family from March 12

Samajwadi Party will hold a rally in support of its leader and Lok Sabha MP Azam Khan and his family over cases registered against them by the Uttar Pradesh Police.

The rally will begin from Rampur, Lok Sabha constituency of Azam Khan on March 12 and will conclude in Lucknow on March 21.

Over 80 cases have been registered against Khan, many of which are about land encroachment by Mohammad Ali Jauhar University. Khan, a former Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister, is the varsity's chancellor.

In January, the Supreme Court dismissed pleas of the Uttar Pradesh government challenging the bail granted to Samajwadi Party MP Azam Khan, his wife Dr Tanzeen Fathima, and son Abdullah Azam Khan in an alleged case of forging birth certificate.In October 2020, the Allahabad High Court had granted bail to MP Azam Khan, his wife and son in the case.Abdullah Azam Khan was elected as an MLA from Suar seat from Rampur, Uttar Pradesh in 2017. He was disqualified from the membership of the State Legislative Assembly for being less than 25 years of age as on the date of the election, in December 2019.He was found guilty by the Allahabad High Court for submitting a forged birth certificate to the election body to contest elections.A complaint was lodged by Akash Saxena, a member of Bharatiya Janata Party, alleging that Azam Khan and his wife have got two birth certificates issued from different places, one dated January 28, 2012, from Nagar Palika Parishad, Rampur, and the second dated April 21, 2015, from Nagar Nigam, Lucknow, for their son.The first birth certificate, which recorded his date of birth as January 1, 1993, was used for making passport, etc and was misused in foreign travel, the complainant alleged. While the second birth certificate, which recorded his date of birth as September 30, 1990, was "misused" in government documents for contesting election to Legislative Assembly of the state and in different recognitions given to Jauhar University, it claimed.

( With inputs from ANI )