Allahabad HC Orders dropping of NSA Charges against Kafeel Khan
Allahabad HC Orders dropping of NSA Charges against Kafeel Khan
The division bench comprising of Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh of the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday ordered his immediate release and the dropping of the stringent National Security Act (NSA) charges against him.
The extension of the period of detention of the detenue Dr. Kafeel Khan is also declared as illegal.
Under the NSA people can be detained without a charge for up to 12 months if authorities are satisfied that they are a threat to the security and law and order of the nation.
Dr. Kafeel Khan was also booked under IPC Section 153A ( Prompting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion.
Khan was arrested in January 2020 because of the alleged inflammatory speech that he had given in Aligarh Muslim University against the CAA in December 2019, Khan was supposed to be detained until November this year in a recent order passed by the District Magistrate on 16th August 2020.
The High Court while passing the order on Tuesday said,
“The speech does not disclose any effort to promote hatred or violence”
“The speaker was certainly opposing the policies of the government and while doing so certain illustrations are given by him, but that nowhere reflects the eventualities demanding detention.”
“A complete reading of the speech prima facie does not disclose any effort to promote hatred or violence, it nowhere threatens peace and tranquility of the city of Aligarh”
The Court further said,
“At the cost of repetition, it would be appropriate to state that from December 2019 to January 2020, the detenue was roaming free and had ample time to make all efforts to damage pubic order in the City of Aligarh, if he intended to do so”
The NSA was invoked on Khan in February over a 2 months old speech.
The Court stated that,
“The order of detention dated 13th February 2020, passed by the District Magistrate of Aligarh and confirmed by the State of Uttar Pradesh is set aside and declared illegal”
(By Andrea Dsilva)
