Mathura (Uttar Pradesh): Dr. Kafeel Khan, who had been granted bail by the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday, was released around midnight.
Khan’s lawyer Irfan Ghazi said, “The Mathura jail administration informed us at 11.00 p.m. that Dr. Kafeel Khan is being released around midnight, he walked out of jail.”
The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday called his detention illegal and ordered the government to free him immediately. The doctor’s speech did not show any effort to promote hate or violence, the Allahabad High Court had said.
“I am thankful to the judiciary which has given an excellent order, which has clearly said that my speech was not to incite violence… and lastly to the STF (Special Task Force) who didn’t encounter me (sic), who didn’t kill me while bringing me from Mumbai to Mathura,” Dr Kafeel Khan told NDTV in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur where he was taken to immediately after his release.
“In Ramayana, Maharshi Valmiki had said that the Raja (king) should act for ‘Raj Dharma‘. In UP, the ‘Raja’ is not doing ”Raj Dharma” but is doing ‘Baal Hatth‘ (being stubborn like a child),” he told news agency PTI.
After the court verdict, when the jail authorities did not free the doctor for hours, his family had said they would file a contempt petition in the Allahabad High Court.
Dr Khan’s mother Nuzhat Parveen said she will finally be able to “see, touch and feel” her son after a long time. “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,” Ms Parveen said on her way to Mathura jail, news agency PTI reported.
“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,” she added.
Khan was in jail since January after he delivered an allegedly provocative speech at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests in December last year.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh, passed the order on a petition filed by Khan’s mother.
The petition argued that Khan was granted bail in February by a competent court and he was supposed to be released on bail.
However, he was not released for four days and the NSA was subsequently invoked against him. Hence, his detention was illegal, the petition stated.
