Anti-CAA stir: Mumbai court grants Aligarh police transit remand for Dr Kafeel Khan
Arrested from Mumbai for making inflammatory speeches in Aligarh, Dr Kafeel Khan told the court that he feared being killed in an "encounter" by the Uttar Pradesh police.
Gorakhpur paediatrician Dr Kafeel Khan, who was arrested by UP Police from Mumbai airport, was granted transit remand by Mumbai's Bandra Court on Thursday.
He was arrested by UP Police on Wednesday in connection with a case registered against him in Aligarh. He is accused of making inflammatory remarks at an anti-CAA protest at Aligarh Muslim University last month.
On Thursday, Kafeel Khan told the court that he feared being killed in an "encounter" by the Uttar Pradesh police. Khan told the court "there is a chance that he will be killed in an encounter if transit (remand) is given," and insisted that he be kept in Mumbai, his lawyers said.
However, Aligarh police told the court that he will be taken to UP safely. After hearing arguments from both sides, the court granted the police the transit remand. The UP police will have to produce the accused at the chief juridical magistrate's court in Aligarh within three days.
While being taken to court, Kafeel Khan said, "I was given a clean chit in Gorakhpur child deaths case, now they are trying to frame me again. I request the Maharashtra government to let me stay here. I don't trust UP police."
Khan's advocate also told the court that there is fear that UP Police can "encounter Kafeel Khan while on the way to UP". Khan fears encounter "because he has full information about the people responsible for the death of children (in a UP hospital", his lawyers told reporters outside the court.
"Officials of the UP STF arrested Dr Kafeel Khan in a case which was registered at Civil Lines Police Station under section 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups) of IPC. Our police team helped our UP counterparts on their request," said an official from the Mumbai police.
He claimed Khan had made inflammatory statements on December 12 last year during an anti-CAA protest near Bab-e-Syed Gate outside the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in front of more than 600 students.
The official alleged the Gorakhpur-based doctor had also made objectionable comments against Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
On Wednesday, Kafeel Khan had tweeted that he is going to come to Mumbai Bagh the next day. On Wednesday night, when he arrived at the Mumbai airport he was arrested by UP Police. Mumbai Bagh is like Delhi's Shaheen Bagh. Here women have been sitting on protest against CAA and NRC for the past four days.
The FIR against Kafeel Khan mentions that Swaraj India's president Yogendra Yadav was also present during the speech at AMU.
The paediatrician had come to the limelight in 2017 when a controversy broke out after the death of over 60 children in less than a week at the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, where he was posted.