In a major relief to Uttar Pradesh’s Dr Kafeel Khan, arrested and charged under the tough National Security Act, the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday directed the government to immediately release him.

Hearing a petition filed by Dr Kafeel Khan’s mother, the Allahabad High Court revoked the NSA charges against the Gorakhpur doctor arrested earlier this year for anti-CAA speech.

Dr Kafeel Khan was in February booked under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) over his alleged anti-CAA speech at Aligarh Muslim University on December 12, 2019.

In January, Dr Kafeel Khan was arrested by the UP Special Task Force from Mumbai for participating anti-CAA protest at AMU. A case was also registered against him for promoting enmity between different religions.

After his arrest in Mumbai, Dr Khan was brought to Aligarh, from where he was shifted to the district jail in neighbouring Mathura.

Dr Kafeel Khan, a paediatrician, had first 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, UP.

The doctor was arrested for his alleged role in the death of children in one week. Short supply of oxygen at the children’s ward was blamed at that time for the deaths.

About two years later, a state government probe cleared Khan of all major charges, prompting him to seek an apology from the Yogi Adityanath government.