Lucknow: Congress in Uttar Pradesh has decided to launch a three-week-long signature campaign for the release of Dr Kafeel Khan who has been languishing in Mathura jail for taking part in anti-CAA-NRC protests. Dr Kafeel Khan is a native of Gorakhpur, the city which UP CM Yogi Adityanath belongs to.
About the campaign
UP Congress minority cell, Shahnawaz Alam will monitor the campaign for the release of Dr Kafeel Khan. He himself faced arrest allegedly for taking part in the anti-CAA protest in Lucknow. After spending 16 days in jail, he was recently granted bail by the Lucknow session court.
A door-to-door signature campaign would be launched all over the state from July 22 to August 12. Memorandums will be signed and videos will be made demanding the release of Dr Kafeel Khan.
Congress party will mobilize minority community to build pressure on the government. It will reach out to clerics, madrasas, educational institutions, self help groups, member of civil society and ask them to raise their voice in favour of our demand, said Alam.
He added that each and every forum, media, symbol will be used to mobilize people against BJP’s brutal regime. In order to galvanize support for Dr. Khan, the party will offer a Chadar at every Dargah in the state on behalf of Priyanka Gandhi.
Dr Kafeel Khan’s arrest
UP Special Task Force arrested Dr Khan in Mumbai on January 29 when he had arrived there to participate in a protest. Later, he was slapped with the stringent National Security Act (NSA) for an alleged hate speech at the Aligarh Muslim University.
Gorakhpur incident
Dr Kafeel Khan first hit the headlines in August 2017 when he was blamed for the deaths of 30 children due to oxygen shortage in the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur. He remains suspended from service even though he was cleared of the charges in a departmental inquiry.
Twitter on storm
On Sunday, people had set Twitter on storm demanding Dr Khan’s his release. According to a report published in TOI, Twitterati posted over 1 lakh posts in less than 4 hours demanding the release of Dr Kafeel Khan along with other “political prisoners” on Sunday.