The beleaguered doctor was suspended from service in 2017 following the death of children allegedly due to oxygen shortage in a medical facility in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh.
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — A First Information Report (FIR) has been lodged against suspended Gorakhpur hospital paediatrician Dr. Kafeel Khan and five other unidentified persons on the complaint of a Lucknow resident who alleged that a book written by the doctor was being distributed to incite people against the government and create division in society, the Uttar Pradesh police said.
Jitendra Pratap Singh, Station House Officer of Krishna Nagar police station, where the case has been filed, said: “Dr. Kafeel was booked after businessman Manish Shukla alleged that a book written by him was being distributed to incite people against the government and create division in society,” reports reaching here said on Monday.
As per the complaint, Dr. Khan’s book was distributed and sold among his supporters as a “means of raising money, establishing his innocence, overthrowing the state government and preventing the central government — which the book claimed was pro-Hindu — from forming a government in 2024”.
The businessman claimed that he overheard four or five persons discussing, over the phone, the need to orchestrate a conflict between communities to obtain money for a covert expedition.
The police said they have started a probe into the case and are trying to identify the other accused. The case was lodged under Sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery to make or transfer any valuable security, or to receive money), 468 (forgery for cheating), 465 (forgery), 471 (using forged as genuine), 504 (insult to provoke breach of peace), 505 (statements causing mischief), 295 (defiling a place of worship to insult a religion), 295-A (malicious acts to outrage religious feelings), and 153-B (assertions prejudicial to national integration) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), reports said.
Dr. Khan first hit the headlines after the 2017 tragedy at Gorakhpur’s BRD Medical College, where several children died due to lack of oxygen cylinders. While he was hailed as a saviour for arranging emergency oxygen cylinders, he faced action along with nine other doctors and staff members over some irregularities in their duty. All were released on bail and in September 2019, an official probe cleared Dr. Khan of any negligence.
The Indian Express reported that Dr. Khan was contacted over the phone. He claimed that neither the government nor the police have told him anything about the case against him.
“The book in question is available on Amazon and has been on sale for two years. I have been staying outside UP for four years. The book in English has been translated by some people into Hindi and Urdu. I don’t know why they have registered a case against me now,” Dr. Khan was quoted as saying.
In September 2020, the Allahabad High Court revoked charges under National Security Act (NSA) against Dr. Khan and ordered his immediate release from Mathura jail. Dr. Khan was accused of delivering a provocative speech at Aligarh Muslim University in December 2019 during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The case against him was lodged for allegedly “disturbing public order”.
