LUCKNOW: The Allahabad High Court has issued a notice to UP government seeking its response on a petition filed by Dr Kafeel Khan demanding the court to get the criminal proceedings against him quashed.
The single-judge bench, comprising Justice JJ Munir, sought the response from the state government and posted the matter for April 6 for the next hearing.
Dr Khan was arrested in December 2019 for giving a 'provocative' speech which allegedly could have led to social disharmony and disturb the communal amity, during the protests against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
The doctor was held from the AMU campus and jailed for seven months after the National Security Act was invoked against him.
However, in September 2020, the Allahabad High Court's division bench comprising Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh had ordered his release noting that his speech at AMU had not disclosed any effort to promote hatred or violence.
The High Court order was challenged by the state government through a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in Supreme Court in December 2020 but the apex court refused to interfere.
The latest plea in the High Court seeks to get the charge sheet filed against Dr Kafeel Khan, proceedings of the case pending before the CJM, Aligarh, and the cognizance order of the CJM quashed.