LUCKNOW: In a huge relief to Dr Kafeel Khan, the Allahabad High Court on Thursday quashed the entire criminal proceedings pending against him over his speech given about CAA and NRC at a protest meeting at Aligarh Muslim University in December 2019.
The Bench of Justice Gautam Chaudhary has quashed the entire criminal proceedings, which were initiated pursuant to his alleged provocative speech and the cognizance order passed by the chief judicial magistrate of Aligarh. Dr Kafeel Khan had spent 7.5 months in a Mathura jail following the case registered by the UP Police.
National Security Act (NSA) was also invoked by the UP government against Dr Khan. However, last year the Allahabad High Court quashed Dr Khan's detention under NSA. The court had observed that the speech delivered by Dr Khan was a call for national integration.
Reacting to the development, Dr Kafeel Khan said that it was a big victory for the people of India restoring his faith in judiciary.
"We also hope this judgment will give hope to all the pro-democracy citizens and activists languishing in jails," said Dr Kafeel.