2007 Hate Speech Case: Supreme Court To Hear Tomorrow Azam Khan's Challenge To Taking Voice Sample

The Supreme Court today agreed to hear, tomorrow, the Special Leave Petition filed by the senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mohammad Azam Khan challenging the order of the Allahabad High Court which had refused to quash the directions of the Rampur MP/MLA Court to Azam Khan to provide his voice sample in connection with a hate speech case dating back to 2007.

The matter was mentioned before the Bench of Justice A.S. Bopanna and Justice S.V.N. Bhatti by the Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal along with Advocates Nizam Pasha, Lzafeer Ahmad B. F. and Sidharth Kaushik on behalf of the SP leader. Sibal at the outset submitted, "I have a little problem here... what happened in this matter is that the Judge has asked for a voice sample... he asked for it several days ago on some 25th July and we filed the SLP on 3rd August. Thereafter, we filed an application before that Judge that the SLP is coming up please stay your hands for the voice samples... but he has not agreed to it and said that there is no stay."

Continuing, Sibal submitted, "The SLP, if you list and if it takes a while then the matter will become infructuous. My request is, can the directions of the Trial Court be deferred until your lordships hear the matter." Initially, the Bench agreed to list the matter on August 28, 2023, but asking for an earlier date Sibal further said, "Then they will come tomorrow and take the sample... lordships may say that taking voice samples may be deferred".  

The Bench then listed the matter for tomorrow. "Tomorrow then..let this come tomorrow and we will see what it is", said the Bench. 

The Allahabad High Court had in the impugned order noted that the voice sample of Khan should be taken in accordance with the provisions of the Indian Evidence Act, after obtaining a certificate under Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act from one Sanjay,  proprietor of Pooja Cassette Centre, who had recorded the entire incident that took place on August 7, 2007.

The core of the allegations stated in the First Information Report (FIR) is that on August 7, 2007, the accused-applicant, who held a position as a Member of the Legislative Assembly and was a prominent figure within the Samajwadi Party, delivered a speech. This speech was deemed derogatory due to its offensive content, which caused harm to the sentiments of a specific community. Additionally, this act was in violation of the model code of conduct put forth by the Election Commission.

"Considering the above this application is disposed of finally with a direction that court below shall obtain a certificate from Sanjay (proprietor of Pooja Cassette Centre) who had recorded the entire event which occurred on 07.08.2007 and thereafter handed over the cassette to Mr. Gulab Rai-Naib Tehsildar in terms of Section 65-B of the Indian Evidence Act. After such certificate has been submitted before court by Sanjay, the applicant shall give his voice sample as already directed vide order dated 29.10.2022", read the Order.

Cause Title: Mohd Azam Khan Vs. The State Of Uttar Pradesh [SLP(Crl) No. 010108 - / 2023]