2016 Forced Eviction Case | Allahabad High Court Stays Passing Of Final Order In Trial Against Azam Khan Till July 3

The Allahabad High Court last week stayed until July 3 the passing of a final order in the consolidated trial of the 2016 Forcible Eviction Case involving former UP Minister and MP Mohammad Azam Khan and others. A bench of Justice Dinesh Pathak passed this order while dealing with a plea filed by Khan's co-accused in the matter, who claimed that the trial court was 'adamant' to conclude the trial in June itself. Posting the matter for July 3, the Bench clarified that the trial in the case could continue; however, no final order would be passed till then. The applicants were represented by Senior Advocate SFA Naqvi. The case relates to an alleged incident dated October 15, 2016, involving the demolition of unauthorised structures on Waqf property known as Yateem Khana, Waqf No. 157, located in Rampur. A total of 12 FIRs, registered between 2019 and 2020, were clubbed into a single trial by the Special Judge (MP/MLA), Rampur, last year in August. Charges include dacoity, house trespass, and criminal conspiracy under the IPC. In a significant development earlier today, a separate bench of Justice Samit Gopal directed that a fresh petition filed by Khan and his aide Virendra Goel, concerning the same matter, be tagged with the earlier petition filed by the co-accused (in which the stay on the final order had already been granted). Khan and Goel, represented by Senior Advocate NI Jafri, along with Advocates Shashwat Anand and Shashank Tiwari, sought an interim stay on the entire trial. However, given the existing stay on the passing of the final judgment in the consolidated trial, the Court declined to pass any fresh interim directions and ordered that their petition be clubbed with the co-accused's plea for hearing on July 3. Briefly put, in their plea, Khan and Goel have challenged the trial court's May 30, 2025, orders that denied their requests to recall the informants in the 12 FIRs (now clubbed into a single trial) and key prosecution witnesses, including Zafar Ahmad Farooqui, Chairman of the Sunni Central Waqf Board, and to produce exculpatory videographic evidence of the alleged October 15, 2016, eviction at Yateem Khana, Waqf No. 157, in Rampur. The petitioners argue that this footage, acknowledged by Farooqui, could prove their absence from the scene, dismantling the prosecution's claims in the consolidated trial (Special Case No. 45 of 2020). Their plea also seeks quashing of the entire trial, claiming the same to be violating their constitutional rights under Articles 14, 19, 20, and 21, and branding the proceedings as malicious.

2016 Forced Eviction Case | Allahabad High Court Stays Passing Of Final Order In Trial Against Azam Khan Till July 3

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