Dr Kafeel Khan, the Gorakhpur doctor who was suspended from the department of paediatrics after the death of 60 children at the BRD hospital in 2017, has been booked for an alleged provocative speech during a talk at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) on the Citizenship Amendment Act.
AMU was the site of violent protests on December 15 which had led to clashes with police and the subsequent evacuation of the premises.
The FIR asserts that Kafeel made an attempt to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere and disturb communal harmony. Superintendent of Police (SP) Abhishek, Aligarh stated that the FIR was registered under section 153-A (Promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion) of IPC on the 13th of December.
Kafeel said during the speech, according to the FIR, “Mota Bhai’ is teaching everyone to become Hindu or Muslim but not a human being. He does not believe in the constitution since the RSS came into existence. The CAB makes Muslims a second category citizen and subsequently, they will be harassed with the implementation of the NRC.”
Kafeel is further alleged to have said, “This is a fight is for our existence. We have to fight”. He also said that students in RSS schools are being taught that those who have beards are terrorists. He reportedly added, “through the CAB, the government has told us that India is not ‘our’ country.”
Violent protests have erupted across the country. It was reported that AMU students had clashed with the Police on the night of 15th December. DGP Singh informed that 16-17 policemen have received injuries in the violent clashes with students. The police had to fire tear gas shells. Following the spate of violence, the campus was evacuated by the administration.
Kafeel Khan is one of the accused in the BRD Medical College and Hospital children’s death case in Gorakhpur. He had taken to social media to spread false news that he had been given a ‘clean chit’ in the 2017 case in a departmental inquiry. The Uttar Pradesh government had in October initiated a fresh inquiry against him for spreading misinformation in the media and forcibly entering a hospital and trying to treat patients during his suspension period.