By Muslim Mirror Staff
New Delhi,September21:Dr Kafeel Khan , a pediatrician ,who was charged under the National Security Act for his alleged inflammatory statements during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) thanked UN for calling on the Indian government to release human rights defenders.
Khan was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force in January from Mumbai after he allegedly made inflammatory statements at the Aligarh Muslim University during a protest against the CAA on December 12, 2019.
He was on February 14, 2020, charged under the National Security Act.
On June 26, the UN’s human rights body had written to the Indian government. It had specifically mentioned 11 cases, among those that of Khan and Sharjeel Imam, for “serious allegations of human rights violations, several relating to due process failings during arrest and detention, as well as allegations of torture and ill-treatment”.
In his letter dated September 19, Khan wrote, “The use of stringent national security laws/ UAPA against political dissenters, in the absence of any appeal to violence, is something to be condemned in all cases, authorities continue to invoke counter-terrorism and national security legislations using procedural police powers against these human right defenders for raising issues which would affect India’s poorest and most marginalized community, violating international human right standards”.
“I was tortured mentally as well as physically, denied food and water for many days, and treated inhumanly during my seven months of incarceration in a congested, overcrowded Mathura prison. Fortunately, I got my NSA and all three extensions quashed by the High Court Uttar Pradesh, India which called the whole process illegal. While dropping NSA charges against me, the Chief Justice observed: Dr Kafeel Khan’s speech at AMU, Aligarh, UP, India does not disclose any effort to promote hatred or violence. It also nowhere threatens the peace and tranquility of the city of Aligarh. The address gives a call for national integrity and unity among the citizens. The speech also deprecates any kind of violence,” he stated.