Kafeel Khan has been in jail since January for a speech during anti-CAA protests. (File)
Gorakhpur:
Hours after the Allahabad High Court quashed the detention of Dr Kafeel Khan under the stringent NSA and ordered his immediate release, his elated mother Nuzhat Parveen said it will be after a long time that she will be able to “see, touch and feel” him.
Kafeel Khan has been in jail since January for a speech at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) during anti-CAA protests in December last year. He is currently lodged in a Mathura jail.
His mother had filed a petition in the court arguing that he was granted bail in February and was supposed to be released.
However, he was not released and the National Security Act (NSA) was invoked against him.
While on her way to the Mathura jail today, Nuzhat Parveen said: “I am very happy that my son is coming out of the jail. I will be able to see him, touch him and feel him after a long time,”
“My son is a good person and he is never against the country or society. Today is my daughter-in-law’s birthday as well, and we are carrying a cake with us as she is in Mathura,” she added.
Dr Kafeel Khan’s elder brother, who accompanied her mother, said: “I am happy over the victory of truth. We are on the way to Mathura as today is his wife Dr Shabistan Khan’s birthday and we thought of celebrating it together. We are carrying cake with us and hope that today we’ll celebrate the day together.”
He said there was nothing anti-national or provocative in his brother’s speech.
“He tried to bring everyone together in his speech but police lodged an FIR against him and the NSA was imposed on him,” he said.
Dr Khan was suspended, arrested and jailed for his alleged role in the deaths of over 60 children at a government hospital in Gorakhpur due to alleged oxygen shortage in 2017. In September last year, Dr Khan claimed a UP government report cleared him of all major accusations, but the state government has denied it.
The Gorakhpur doctor was arrested on January 29, charged under National Security Act for his speech against the CAA at a talk at the Aligarh Muslim University late last year.
The Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA promises citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, making religion a test of Indian nationality for the first time.
While critics say the law can be used to persecute Muslims in combination with the planned National Register of Citizens (NRC), the government says the law will help those who have faced religious persecution in the three neighbouring countries.
