The Allahabad High Court stayed the ‘second suspension’ order passed by the Uttar Pradesh government against Dr. Kafeel Khan, for his alleged involvement in forcibly treating patients in the Bahraich district of UP and also criticising the policies of the saffron party led government.
While staying the suspension order, single judge Justice Saral Srivastava directed the Yogi Adityanath government to conclude enquiry against Dr. Khan within one month.
The court passed this order on 9 September 9, which came into public domain on 14 September.
“The Allahabad High Court has stayed the suspension orders served on me on 31.7.2019, alleging that I had forcefully treated patients at the Bahraich District Hospital, and spoken out critically against the policies of the government. This was the second time I had been suspended, when I was already under suspension following the August 2017 tragedy at BRD Medical College,” Dr Khan told Maktoob.
For Khan, the High Court order has revived his hopes that the High Court on 22 September will find it appropriate to revoke his first suspension also so that he can return to treating his child patients at the earliest.
Khan told High Court that the ‘second suspension’ order had been passed on July 31, 2019, and more than two years had gone by and the inquiry had not been concluded.
Khan’s writ petition contended that since he was already a suspended employee, therefore, there was no purpose of passing a second suspension order.
Dr. Khan had hit the headlines after the 2017 tragedy at Gorakhpur’s Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College, in which several children died due to a lack of oxygen cylinders. Initially, he was hailed as a savior for arranging emergency oxygen cylinders but later, faced action and was arrested by Uttar Pradesh police. A probe by the Uttar Pradesh government cleared Dr. Khan of all major charges, prompting him to seek an apology from the state. Kafeel Khan had alleged that an institutional failure had led to the deaths of the children.
Dr. Khan has been suspended for the past 1400 days since 22 August 2017 ( first time after the BRD oxygen tragedy and the second time on 31 July 2019).
Over the years, Khan had turned into an outspoken critic of the Yogi let UP government. Dr. Khan was arrested in January last year for his speech at Aligarh Muslim University during the anti-CAA protest. He was released in September 2020 after the Allahabad High Court quashed his detention order.
