After hours of delay due to an alleged communication gap between authorities, Dr. Kafeel Khan was released from Mathura Jail in the early hours of Wednesday after the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday overturned his detention under the National Security Law and ordered his immediate release, saying that his speech at the AMU did not promote hatred or violence and called for national integrity.
Shortly after the order, when Kafeel’s family arrived at Mathura prison for his release, the authorities refused to release him on the grounds that he had not received the order, after which the family had said they would file a contempt petition in the Allahabad Superior Court. In a tweet, his wife, Dr. Shabista, claimed: “Even after a higher court order, they are not releasing drkafeel from Mathura jail.”
“The authorities are not releasing Dr. Kafeel Khan and are trying to implicate him again under some other charge. If you don’t get out of jail today, we will file a contempt petition in Superior Court on Wednesday. The Mathura jail authorities say they are not following the court order, but the district judge’s orders, and they cannot release Dr. Kafeel until they receive the orders from the Mathura DM, “said the doctor’s brother, Adeel Khan. .
Mathura District Magistrate Sarvagya Ram Mishra said the High Court order “will be duly followed, but the matter rests with the Aligarh District Magistrate, as he invoked the NSA charges.”
Meanwhile, Mathura Jail Senior Superintendent Shailendra Kumar Maitreya said he has not yet received the court order and that Aligarh DM Chandra Bhushan Singh could not be reached for comment.
Irfan Ghazi, attorney for Dr. Kafeel Khan, has further alleged that he tried to meet with DM Aligarh for hours regarding the release of Dr. Kafeel, but DM did not meet him.
Kafeel was housed in Mathura jail for nearly seven and a half months under the National Security Act on charges of delivering inflammatory speeches in Aligarh against the Citizenship Amended Act (CAA) last year.
The court consisting of Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Judge Saumitra Dayal Singh said the Aligarh District Magistrate, who approved Khan’s arrest warrant, did a selective reading of his speech, ignoring his true intention. Khan’s lawyer, Irfan Ghazi, told PTI that the Mathura jail administration informed around 11:00 pm that Dr. Kafeel will be released, and around midnight, he was released.
The higher court accepted the court petition filed by Khan’s mother, Nuzhat Parveen, and said the arrest warrant issued by the district judge was illegal.
The petition argued that Khan was released on bail in February by a competent court and was supposed to be released on bail. However, he was not released for four days and the National Security Act (NSA) was subsequently invoked against him. Therefore, his detention was illegal.
Congressional Leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra praised the court’s decision and hoped that the Uttar Pradesh government would immediately release Khan without malice.
Voiding Khan’s arrest warrant, the court said: “A full reading of the primafacie speech reveals no effort to promote hatred or violence. Nor does it threaten the peace and quiet of the city of Aligarh anywhere. The speech calls for national integrity and unity among citizens. The speech also disapproves of any kind of violence.
“It seems that the district magistrate had a selective reading and a selective mention of some phrases of the speech ignoring its true intention.” The court also said that in the present case, “it is determined that the causal link is missing or completely broken.”
According to the NSA, a person can be detained without charge for up to 12 months if authorities are convinced that they are a threat to national security or public order.
In its order, the court said: “The writ petition is allowed for the above reasons. The arrest warrant of February 13, 2020 approved by the district magistrate, Aligarh and confirmed by the state of Uttar Pradesh, is annulled. The extension of the period of detention of Dr. Kafeel Khan is also declared illegal ”.
“A writ of habeas corpus is hereby issued to release Dr. Kafeel Khan, the detainee, from state custody immediately,” he said.
The Uttar Pradesh government had extended Khan’s detention under the NSA for three months twice, in May and August.
In an order dated August 4, the Department of the Interior had said that the NSA was invoked against Khan on February 13, 2020, by order of the Aligarh district magistrate.
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Allahabad High Court drops NSA charges against Dr. Kafeel Khan and orders immediate release
After this, the matter was referred to the advisory council, which, in its report, said there were “sufficient reasons” to keep Khan in jail.
On the way to Mathura after the court rendered its verdict, Khan’s mother, Parveen, said.
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