The Uttar Pradesh Police slapped the stringent National Security Act on Dr Kafeel Khan, the suspended paediatrician of BRD Medical College who came to limelight after the death of children due to lack of oxygen cylinders at the medical college hospital in Gorakhpur last year.
The NSA has been slapped on Dr Khan for his alleged inflammatory speech at Aligarh Muslim University during protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act on December 12, 2019.
The suspended paediatrician was arrested as he deplaned in Mumbai to visit Mumbai Bagh protests on January 29, where women protesters started an indefinite stir against the CAA.
A case was registered against him for promoting enmity between different religions.
After his arrest in Mumbai, Dr Khan was brought to Aligarh, from where he was immediately shifted to District Jail in Mathura.
However, he was granted bail on Monday after furnishing a bail bond of Rs 60,000 on the condition of not repeating the crime again but even after four days of an Aligarh court order, he continued to be lodged in Mathura jail.
“We got to know on Thursday morning that NSA has been slapped on Dr Khan and now he will not be coming out of jail soon. This is simply unacceptable. He is being targeted at the behest of the state government,” Khan’s brother Adil Khan alleged in Lucknow on Friday.
A special messenger was sent by Chief Judicial Magistrate of Aligarh to the jail to expedite the release process on February 13, after Khan’s family approached the CJM Court over the delay in his release but was told about NSA being slapped on him..
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 against him,” Adil Khan said.