Allahabad High Court sets aside Uttar Pradesh government NSA order against Doctor Kafeel Khan, ordered Yogi led BJP government. to release him forthwith.
In February, the NSA was slapped on the Gorakhpur doctor for allegedly making inflammatory and provocative comments during a speech against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act at the Aligarh Muslim University.
State BJP government in an victimisation mode booked him under the stringent law on the day he was expected to be released on bail from Mathura jail where he was lodged after his arrest in the case on January 29.
Dr. Khan’s family had alleged that he was being targeted by the Yogi Adityanath-led government for his activism, as despite being granted bail by a CJM court in Aligarh on February 10, he continued to languish in jail without proper reason.
The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday set aside the National Security Act (NSA) order passed against Gorakhpur doctor Kafeel Khan and directed the Uttar Pradesh government to release him from jail forthwith.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh, hearing a habeas corpus writ filed by Dr. Khan’s wife, also declared as illegal the extension of the period of his detention under the NSA.
“ A writ in the nature of habeas corpus is hereby issued to release Dr. Kafeel Khan, the detenue from State custody forthwith,” the court said.
After concluding the arguments, the court said, “in light of the discussion above, we are having no hesitation in concluding that neither detention of Dr. Kafeel Khan under the National Security Act, 1980 nor extension of the detention are sustainable in the eye of law.”
“As we have arrived at a conclusion that the order of detention is bad, we do not consider it necessary to deal with the argument advanced by learned counsel for the petitioner relating to delay in submission of representation,” the court said.
