The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday lost its case seeking tough charges against doctor Kafeel Khan under the National Security Act (NSA) for his speech against the amended citizenship law in Supreme Court.
Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, confirming the Allahabad High Court order that freed Dr. Khan said, “Criminal cases will be decided on their own. You cannot use a preventive detention order in another case,”
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Chief Justice Bobde further added, “It seems to be a good order by the High Court. We see no reason to interfere with the order. But the observations will not affect the prosecution on criminal cases.”
The Yogi Adityanath led UP-government had challenged the Allahabad HC order that termed the detention of Dr Kafeel Khan as ‘illegal’ and had cancelled it.
The Gorakhpur-based doctor was arrested from Mumbai in January for his alleged ‘inflammatory’ speech against the amended citizenship act at Aligarh Muslim University. He was charged under the National Security Act (NSA) for ‘disturbing public order in the city and creating an atmosphere of fear and insecurity within the citizens of Aligarh.’
The Allahabad HC had cancelled the detention order saying that the speech did not show any effort to promote hate or violence.
Dr Khan was initially charged for allegedly promoting enmity between different religious groups and the charges under NSA were slapped later after he was given bail on February 10.
The charges under NSA under which the government can detain people without being charged in court for up to a year if they suspect that they could disrupt public order, endanger the security of India or its ties with foreign countries.
The UP government has argued that Dr Kafeel Khan had a history of committing offences which led to disciplinary action, suspension from service, and registration of police cases and the NSA charges.
