Dr Kafeel Khan was released Tuesday midnight from Mathura jail after Allagabad High Court ordered the Uttar Pradesh government to do so, observing that Dr Khan’s speech “nowhere threatens peace and tranquility of the city of Aligarh”.
The court allowed the writ petition filed by his mother Nuzhat Parveen and said the detention order by the district magistrate is illegal.
It said, “A complete reading of the speech primafacie does not disclose any effort to promote hatred or violence. It also no where threatens peace and tranquility of the city of Aligarh. The address gives a call for national integrity and unity among the citizens. The speech also deprecates any kind of violence.”
“It appears that the District Magistrate had selective reading and selective mention for few phrases from the speech ignoring its true intent,” it added.
Dr Khan was arrested on January 29 after being suspended from his position as pediatrician at Gorakhpur’s BRD Medical College and Hospital for delivering allegedly provocative speech.
Dr Khan had delivered the speech when he and Yogendra Yadav addressed a gathering of AMU students who were protesting against the Citizenship Amednment Act and proposed National Registrar of Citizens.