Yogi government goes after Dr Kafeel again, books him under NSA

Dr Kafeel Khan

Lucknow: The stringent National Security Act (NSA) has been slapped on Dr Kafeel Khan, who is lodged in Mathura jail, in connection with his anti-CAA speech at the Aligarh Muslim University. Khan was arrested by the UP Special Task Force from Mumbai on January 29 for allegedly promoting enmity between different religions through the speech he had delivered during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at AMU on December 12. "NSA has been slapped on Dr Kafeel. He will remain in jail," Aligarh Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Akash Kulhari to PTI over phone. In Aligarh, District Magistrate Chandra Bhushan Singh told reporters that Kafeel Khan's speech at AMU was instrumental in triggering violent incidents at the university on December 13 and 15. "We had apprehensions that after his release on bail, Dr Kafeel Khan would have caused more law and order issues in the state," the district magistrate said. Criticising his detention under the stringent law, Khan's brother Adil Khan said the government wanted him to "remain quiet".

The NSA allows preventive detention for several months if the authorities believe the person is a threat to national security or law and order. Kafeel Khan is currently lodged in Mathura jail depsite bail granted to him by a court in the case, registered against him at the Civil Lines police station in Aligarh for promoting enmity between different religions. Adil Khan said, "The government is trying to silence my brother. A few days ago, during a programme on a TV news channel, he had revealed that at BRD Medical College (Gorakhpur), many children are dying daily but the government is hiding the facts and data." "The (Mathura) jail was about to release him on Friday at 6 am. My brother Kashif along with the lawyer reached the jail but by 9 am police presence at the jail was increased and we were told verbally by jail authorities that the NSA has been invoked on him," Adil Khan said.

After his arrest in Mumbai, Kafeel Khan was brought to Aligarh, from where he was immediately shifted to the district jail in neighbouring Mathura. According to the police, this was done as a precautionary measure in view of the anti-CAA protests on the AMU campus and at the Eidgah grounds in the old city. Police had said that Kafeel Khan's presence in the Aligarh jail could have worsened the law and order situation in the city. The doctor was earlier arrested for his alleged role in the death of over 60 children in one week at the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur in August 2017. Short supply of oxygen at the children's ward was blamed at that time for the deaths. About two years later, a state government probe cleared Kafeel Khan of all major charges, prompting him to seek an apology from the Yogi Adityanath government.

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