On 1st December, Uttar Pradesh Police registered an FIR against Dr Kafeel Khan and five unknown persons for allegedly conspiring to cause riots in the state. The FIR was filed in response to the complaint of one Manish Shukla, who overheard a conversation about the conspiracy.
The FIR was registered at Krishnanagar Police Station of South Lucknow Commissionerate under Sections 153B, 143, 465, 467, 471, 504, 505, 298, 295, 295A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860 and Sections 3 and 12 of the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867.
An FIR against Kafeel Khan, 4-5 others was registered following complaint of a trader in Lucknow who apparently eavesdropped on conversation where 4-5 people, sitting behind a kisok, were making refrences to Dr Kafeel's book & conspiring to trigger riots to overthrow the govt. pic.twitter.com/cKQ9awNlXw
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) December 4, 2023
As per the complaint, Shukla overheard four to five people using derogatory language against the state government’s ministers and senior officials. While speaking on the phone, they planned to create chaos and overthrow the government. The complainant, being vigilant, carefully observed what they were saying.
Shukla said that those people talked about a book by Dr Kafeel Khan that was being covertly distributed throughout the state. The aim was to collect funds to fulfill the agenda to topple the government. According to the unknown accused, Khan disclosed the so-called ‘truth’ about the deaths of children at Gorakhpur Medical College in the book. They actively engaged in discreet conversation about distributing the book to as many people as possible, especially before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, to create unrest against the government. Shukla added that the accused expressed strong anti-government sentiments and were willing to resort to violence if needed.
The complainant said he got concerned about the potential consequences of their actions and called a couple of colleagues to confront them. When they arrived, the complainant approached the accused, who fled upon seeing them. The complainant and his colleagues did not pursue them to avoid violent confrontation. However, as they ran away, a copy of the alleged book fell, which the complainant picked up.
Upon inspection, Shukla found that the book contained the account of the Gorakhpur Medical College Hospital tragedy that took place on 10th August 2017, where several children lost their lives due to lack of oxygen. The details were based on Khan’s perspective and projected as if it was a conspiracy to defame him.
The book’s content accused the government of plotting against Kafeel Khan and tarnishing his image. In his complaint, Shukla emphasised the need for a thorough investigation into the matter and the potential threat posed by the accused with anti-government sentiments.
Interestingly, Shukla mentioned in his complaint that the author’s and publisher’s names were not mentioned on the copy he found. Recently, Khan published a book titled “The Gorakhpur Hospital Tragedy: A Doctor’s Memoir of a Deadly Medical Crisis” about the same incident. Based on Shukla’s complaint, the facts of the matter raise the question of whether there is another book “secretly” released in the backdrop of a well-marketed propaganda book by Khan that aims at creating unrest in the state given the upcoming General Elections.
Dr Kafeel Khan and the controversies around him
Dr Kafeel Khan was suspended from his government job after allegations of medical negligence were levelled against him in 2017 after 72 infants had died in BRD medical college in Gorakhpur due to lack of oxygen supply. He was arrested on that charge. Two years later, after a probe by UP police, the charges of negligence and corruption were dropped, but he was still charged with running a private practice and two other accusations. He was released in 2018 after spending 9 months in jail, and he still continues to be suspended from his job.
In January 2020, he was arrested for his speech at Aligarh Muslim University on December 10, 2019, during anti-CAA protests. Kafeel Khan had made some inflammatory remarks in his speech delivered during the anti-CAA protests in Aligarh Muslim University. He had allegedly remarked against Home Minister Amit Shah that he was a murderer whose clothes were tarnished with blood. He also said that the CAA made Muslims second-class citizens. He alleged that the students in the RSS-run schools are taught that people with beards are terrorists and that with the CAA, the government has told us that India was not our country. Khan had urged people to fight for their existence. He was later booked under the National Security Act.
Kafeel Khan had also contested MLC elections on Samajwadi Party ticket, which he lost.
