The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has moved to the Supreme Court challenging the Allahabad High Court order that revoked the National Security Act against suspended Gorakhpur doctor, Dr Kafeel Khan, for an alleged speech against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
The high court in its order on September 1, had called the detention of Kafeel Khan, the doctor from Uttar Pradesh, as 'illegal', adding the doctor's speech did not promote hate or violence.
In its petition, the Uttar Pradesh government has alleged Dr Khan had a history of committing offences, which led to disciplinary action, suspension from service, registration of police cases and being charged under the National Security Act (NSA).
Dr Khan was arrested under the National Security Act for his speech given against the CAA at a gathering at the Aligarh Muslim University in 2019.
Doctor Khan was arrested on January 29 and was first charged for spreading hate between different groups on grounds of religion. The charges under the NSA were requested later after he was given bail on February 10 this year.
After Dr Khan was released from jail in Mathura, he said he would ask UP CM Yogi Adityanath to give him back his job in the state medical services. He was suspended from Gorakhpur's BRD Medical College after several children died there in 2017, apparently due to the lack of oxygen cylinders at the government hospital.
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A departmental inquiry later cleared Dr Khan of the charges but his suspension was not withdrawn. He later found himself in trouble for the allegedly provocative speech in Aligarh over the amended citizenship law.
The NSA empowers the government to detain people, without being charged in court, for up to a year if they suspect that they could disrupt public order, endanger the security of India or its ties with foreign countries.