Allahabad HC summons records of Dr Kafeel’s detention under NSA
PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad high court on Monday summoned original records of proceedings related to the detention of Dr Kafeel Khan under the National Security Act, 1980, and adjourned hearing of the case till August 27.
The court adjourned the hearing as the parties concerned wanted to file additional documents related to the case.
The bench comprising chief justice Govind Marhur and justice Saumitra Dayal Singh passed the order on a petition filed by Dr Kafeel Khan’s mother Nuzhat Parveen seeking his release.
In the petition, it was alleged that earlier in February, Dr Kafeel Khan was granted bail by a competent court. However, he was not released and four days later, the NSA was invoked against him, the petition said, adding that his detention was illegal. The plea challenged the detention of Dr Kafeel for four days before NSA was imposed on him even after he secured bail in all the cases registered against him. Khan has been behind bars since January 29 after he allegedly delivered a speech during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests at Aligarh Muslim University in December last year. The speech was deemed ‘provocative’ by the UP government, which booked him. Khan was arrested at Mumbai airport on January 29 in connection with the case registered at Aligarh’s Civil Lines police station under section 153-A of the Indian Penal Code. The section relates to promotion of enmity between groups over religious and other differences. On February 10, Khan was granted bail but was not immediately released by the Mathura jail authorities. Later, the authorities invoked the National Security Act against him. Dr Kafeel’s detention under the NSA was extended by three months on May 12 and then again on August 4 for three more months. Khan hit the headlines after the 2017 tragedy at Gorakhpur’s Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College, in which about 60 children died allegedly due to lack of oxygen cylinders. Initially, he was hailed as a saviour for the children for arranging emergency oxygen cylinders but later, faced action, along with nine other doctors and staff members of the hospital, all of whom were released on bail later.