Dismissing the petition filed against Dr. Kafeel Khan jointly by the central and UP state government, the Supreme Court gave the order in favor of the doctor who was charged with NSA last year.
Hearing a case lodged to seek tough punishment for Dr. Khan, the bench of 3 judges headed by Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde, said that the order, however, will not change the results of the other criminal cases filed against him.
The CJI said in his order, “Criminal cases will be decided on their own merits. You cannot use a preventive detention order in another case,” agreeing with Allahabad High Court’s earlier order of freeing the doctor after the state government held him behind the bars “illegally” despite his bail orders.
“It seems to be a good order by the High Court. We see no reason to interfere with the order. But the observations will not affect the prosecution on criminal cases,” Justice Bobde said.
As the September 1st verdict of the Allahabad High Court did not well with Yogi Adityanath’s government, they had sought the help of the top court to avert the detention of Dr. Khan who had been slapped with NSA charges.
Sharing his joy over the order and gratitude to the people who wished for the order to lean in his favor, he said, “Once again the UP government has failed they tried to imprison me and put me behind bars on the day my brother is getting married. Anyway, thanks to the judiciary and to all of those across the globe who prayed for me and have supported me for the past three and a half years.”
A Pediatrician from Gorakhpur, Dr. Kafeel was arrested following a controversy in the 2017 children’s hospital issue where over 100 children died due to shortage of oxygen. The doctor, despite being on leave, had served as many children as possible saving the lives of many. However, he was held guilty of the death of the others.
He found himself amid another riff with the UP government after he delivered a speech to the Aligarh Muslim University students near the campus during protests against the ‘discriminatory’ citizenship amendment laws.
His alleged “inflammatory” speech led to his arrest in January 2019 from Mumbai. Dr. Kafeel was later charged under NSA in order to stop him from leaving the jail even after he received bail orders for “disturbing public order in the city and creating an atmosphere of fear and insecurity within the citizens of Aligarh”.
Rejecting the charges placed on him, Allahabad High Court set Dr. Kafeel free of the detention order as it said the doctor’s speech did not mention any provocative words that could cause violence or promote hate in India amongst the students of the University. The court was hearing the habeas corpus plea filed by his mother, Nuzhat Parveen.
The central government and the UP government, jointly reached the Supreme Court to challenge the High Court’s order as they believed that the doctor had flouted prohibitory laws and gave an inflammatory speech to the Aligarh Univ students that allegedly induced the protests of 10,000 students who marched towards the city.
They further maintained that the doctor also had a history of criminal offenses.
