Allahabad HC seek response of Centre, UP govt in plea requesting Kafeel Khan's release

In a major development, the Allahabad High Court has sought response from the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government in a case seeking the release of Dr Kafeel Khan. In an order on Wednesday, a bench of justices Manoj Mishra and Deepak Verma fixed August 19 as the next date of hearing in the case and asked the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government to file their responses before it. Dr Kafeel Khan was detained under the National Security Act (NSA) for allegedly giving a provocative speech during anti-CAA protests.

The Allahabad High Court is hearing a petition filed by Nuzhat Parween, the mother of Khan, seeking her son's release. According to the petitioner, Khan was granted bail by a competent court. However, he was not released for four days and subsequently, the NSA was slapped on him. Hence, his detention is illegal.

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Khan's detention

Khan has been in jail since January 29 after a speech he delivered at the Aligarh Muslim University on December 10, 2019, during the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protests. The speech was deemed "provocative" by the BJP-led government in Uttar Pradesh, which booked Khan under the NSA.

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What does Aligarh Police FIR say?

As per the Aligarh Police FIR, Kafeel Khan reportedly stated that the BJP leadership was teaching everyone to adhere to their religion first, rather than becoming good human beings. Alleging that the Citizenship Amendment Bill rendered Muslims as second-class citizens, he purportedly claimed that they would be harassed after the implementation of the National Register of Citizens. Khan, according to the FIR, said that the people had to fight as it was a matter of their existence and argued that the students in the RSS school were being taught to identify certain people as terrorists. Section 153-A (Promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion) was included in the FIR. After being taken to Aligarh, he was sent to Mathura jail. 

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Who is Dr Kafeel Khan?

Dr Kafeel Khan had earlier grabbed headlines after 60 children died in the BRD hospital in September 2017 allegedly due to disruption in oxygen supply over unpaid bills to the vendor. He was suspended and was jailed before being granted bail in April 2018 by Allahabad High Court, with the Court specifying that there was no evidence of negligence on his part. Last September, Dr Kafeel Khan was given a clean chit in the 2017 BRD hospital tragedy. He had then claimed that he was a victim and being punished for a crime that he never committed. 

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