Dr Kafeel Khan who was granted bail by Allahabad High Court on September 1 was released from Mathura jail around midnight. The order came on Tuesday morning and when his family went to Mathura jail to seek his release, the jail authorities refused to do so citing non-receipt of the order.
His wife, Shabista Khan, tweeted from her Twitter account
Even after high court order they are not releasing drkafeel from mathura jail @Troll_Ziddi @007AliSohrab @Iamsabbag @kashaf512 @SanjayAzadSln @yadavakhilesh @priyankagandhi
— Dr Shabista Khan (@ShabistaDr) September 1, 2020
Before Khan was finally released at midnight, Khan’s brother Adeel Khan said, “The authorities are not releasing Dr Kafeel Khan and are trying to implicate him again under some other charge. If he is not released from jail today, we would file a contempt petition in the High Court on Wednesday. The Mathura jail authorities are saying that they do not follow the order of the court but the orders of the District Magistrate, and they can’t release Dr Kafeel until they receive the orders from the DM of Mathura,” as reported by News18.
Khan’s lawyer, Irfan Ghazi, alleged that he tried to meet the DM, Aligarh regarding Khan’s release but the DM did not meet him. “Mathura jail administration informed at around 11 pm that Dr Kafeel will be released, and at around midnight, he was released,” Khan’s lawyer Irfan Ghazi told PTI. His family said they would file a contempt petition at the high court the very next day if Khan was not released on Tuesday; but fortunately, it didn’t come to that.
“I will always remain thankful to all my well-wishers, who raised their voice for my release,” Khan told PTI after his release. “The administration was not ready for release, but because of the prayers of people, I have been released. In Ramayana, Maharshi Valmiki had said that the Raja should act for ‘Raj Dharma’. In UP the ‘Raja’ is not doing ‘Raj Dharma’ but is doing ‘Baal Hatth’ [being stubborn like a child].”
Dr Khan’s mother Nuzhat Parveen said she will finally be able to “see, touch and feel” her son. “I am very happy that my son is coming out of the jail. I will be able to see him, touch him and feel him after a long time,” she added. “My son is a good person and he is never against the country or society. Today is my daughter-in-law’s birthday as well, and we are carrying a cake with us as she is in Mathura.”
Khan said that the Yogi government could frame him in any other case. He thanked the judiciary for ruling in favour of his release. In a sarcastic vein, he added that he wanted to thank the Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh Police for not killing him in an encounter while taking him from Mumbai to Mathura, reported Scroll.
Khan was arrested on January 29, 2019 for his allegedly provocative speech at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). He secured bail and as he was to be released on February 13, charges under the National Security Act (NSA) were slapped against him. He has been in detention since then, as the state government extended his detention twice.
The Allahabad High Court, in expedited hearings, ordered for immediate release of Khan while setting aside the detention order issued against him and deeming the extensions of detention orders to be illegal. The court held that the speech on the basis of which Khan was detained did not amount to threatening peace and tranquility of the city. Rather, the court said that his speech gave a call for national unity and integrity.
Related:
Kafeel Khan’s speech does not disclose any effort to promote hatred or violence: Allahabad HC
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