Next Case Hearing On Petition Filed By Dr. Kafeel Khan In Allahabad HC On July 19

Prayagraj, July 15 (TNA) The hearing on the case of Dr Kafeel Khan, the suspended doctor of the Baba Raghav Das Medical College, Gorakhpur continues to be heard in the Allahabad High Court. The suspended doctor has filed a writ petition against the case slapped on him by the UP government for an alleged hate speech in Aligarh.

The next hearing on this matter has been listed for July 19. In another matter pertaining to his suspension from the medical college, the date of the next hearing has been fixed for July 23. He was suspended after many infants died allegedly due to cutting of oxygen supply due to non-payment of dues to the vendor. The state government however blamed Khan for dereliction of duty.

On 27 September 2019, Khan was acquitted of all charges in relation to the 2017 Gorakhpur Hospital deaths. According to the departmental inquiry report, "The allegations against the accused are insufficient... Therefore it is submitted that the accused officer is not guilty".

The departmental inquiry suggested that Khan had, until 2016, engaged in private practice in addition to his work at the hospital, which was alleged to be a violation of service rules. However, no action has been taken against him for the same to date.

Khan was arrested in Mumbai on December 13, 2019 by a special task force of the Uttar Pradesh police for offences under the National Security Act 1980, in relation to a speech made by him at Aligarh Muslim University in earlier that month during the Citizenship Amendment Act protests in India.

The FIR alleged that Khan's speech amounted to a criminal offence because it "sowed the seeds of discord and disharmony" amongst students, and included disparaging remarks against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

He was granted bail on February 10, 2020 by an Aligarh court, but was re-arrested on 13 February 2020 and charged with offences under the National Security Act, before his actual release from jail.

The National Security Act allows preventive detention without trial for three-month periods, and on May 12, 2020, following the lapse of three months, his detention was extended for a second three-month period, until August 12, 2020.

On September 1, 2020, he was released by the Allahabad High Court, and all charges under the NSA against him were dropped.