UP STF arrests Gorakhpur doctor Kafeel Khan from Mumbai for inflammatory speech at AMU

The Uttar Pradesh Police's Special Task Force on Wednesday arrested doctor Kafeel Khan from Mumbai for allegedly making "instigating remarks" at Aligarh Muslim University during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) last month.

The UP Police had filed an FIR at Aligarh's Civil Line police station against Khan under Section 153-A of the IPC for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.

The FIR claims that Khan, while addressing students on December 12 2019, had said, "'Motabhai' is teaching everyone to become Hindus or Muslims but not to become human beings."

Dr Khan made an attempt to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere at the university and disturb communal harmony, the FIR, filed on December 13, claims.

Kafeel Khan, who was suspended from Gorakhpur's BRD medical college in 2017 and later arrested for medical negligence after a number of deaths were reported at the hospital due to encephalitis, turned an activist after his release from jail in April 2018. He was later cleared of all charges in a UP government report.

Over the last month, since protests against the CAA-NRC broke out, he has crisscrossed the country to address rallies against the new citizenship law.

In his speech at AMU last month, the doctor-activist had said that with CAA people were being made second-class citizens.

Mumbai police officials confirmed the arrest of Khan and said he was being kept at Sahar police station in the city.

"Officials of the UP Special Task Force arrested Dr Kafeel Khan in a case which was registered at Civil Lines Police Station under section 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups) of IPC. Our police team helped our UP counterparts on their request," an official from Mumbai Police was quoted as saying by PTI.