Dr Kafeel Khan, arrested in Mumbai over his anti-CAA remarks at Aligarh Muslim University, says he does not trust UP police and has requested to be kept in Mumbai
Dr Kafeel Khan
At the Bandra court on Thursday, Dr Kafeel Khan said he did not trust the Uttar Pradesh police who he said, "may kill me in a fake encounter case". Dr Khan, who was jailed after around 60 children died in a government hospital in Gorakhpur in 2017, said this in response to the court order sending him to transit remand until he could be taken back to UP. Along with the Sahar Police, UP police arrested Dr Khan on Wednesday evening from Mumbai International Airport.
Dr Khan had arrived in Mumbai to address a gathering of women in Nagpada against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Registry of Citizens (NRC). He had announced via Twitter that he would be present at the venue around 11 am on January 31 before leaving for Kerala. When Dr Khan was nabbed by two officers of UP ATS, he feared for his life and started shouting for help from airport security. Surprised by his reaction, the Special Task Force (STF) personnel took him to a place with CCTV cameras assuring arrest and took him to Sahar police station later.
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Dr Khan has been accused of giving a provocative speech over the CAA at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) last month after which he was booked under Section 153 (A) (promoting enmity on grounds of religion/race/region among groups) of the IPC.
'Keep me in Mumbai'
At the Bandra court on Thursday, Dr Khan said, "I don't trust UP police; they will kill me in a fake encounter case. The court can check the entire video of the speech. I have not said anything provocative. If the police wants to arrest me, keep me in Mumbai. I don't want to go to UP."
His lawyer Alka Sharma argued that Dr Khan had only explained how the CAA would impact Muslims in the country and that he was given a clean chit in the Gorakhpur children death case too.
OP Singh, Director General of Police, UP said, "We are not making any false case against him. Our job is to arrest him and not to kill people. We will investigate the matter. We have arrested him for the hate speeches he delivered at AMU on a sensitive issue."
The STF left for UP with Dr Khan on Thursday night.
60
No. of children who died in the Gorakhpur govt hospital in 2017
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