Supreme Court pulls up Azam Khan for no-reply in rape case

The Supreme Court pulled up Uttar Pradesh Minister Azam Khan on Tuesday for not filing his reply to the notice sent to him regarding the comments he made about the Bulandshahar gang rape incident.

A bench of justices Dipak Misra and Uday Lalit told the UP government’s counsel that the minister should have been present through his lawyer. When the counsel said that he was not representing the minister, as the statement was made in the minister’s personal capacity, the bench asked additional solicitor general Maninder Singh for the CBI to serve notice on Mr Khan. The ASG said it was surprising that the counsel for the state does not represent its minister. The bench, however, told the ASG that since whatever Mr Khan has said is in his personal capacity, “we want the CBI to serve notice on him”.

In a brief order, the bench said “despite service of notice, Azam Khan has not entered appearance. In our considered opinion Azam Khan should have entered appearance when there are direct allegations against him in the writ petition. We direct the CBI to serve notice on him”.