Published by Collective of Social Activists & Civil Movements, an activist collective
It is the thirteenth day of judicial custody for Dr. Kafeel Khan and his elder brother Adeel Khan. Dr. Kafeel Khan was picked up from Bahraich district hospital while he was treating children who are affected with an ‘unknown disease’ in the words of the hospital authorities. Before going to Bahraich hospital Dr. Kafeel Khan had tweeted that Yogi Adityanath can’t run away from the responsibility of these deaths this time and asked people to raise their voice against the injustice being done to children who live in poor health conditions. Dr. Kafeel found out that the ‘unknown disease’ is Japanese Encephalitis. Dr. Kafeel was about to meet the press to reveal what he found in the hospital but he was detained even before he finished the visit. Dr. Kafeel had gained permission from the Chief Medical officer to enter the hospital and do the treatment, but the police didn’t bother to enquire about this. He was taken to a sugar mill guest house.
From then to next 18 hours his family was provided with no information about Dr. Kafeel. It is from the next day’s newspaper the family came to know that what charge was imposed on him and he was bailed out but not yet reached home. No national television channel or newspaper did justice to Dr. Kafeel’s illegal detention and victimization while major media houses like NDTV copied the PTI feed which is a police narrative. It created an impression that Dr. Kafeel is bailed out while by afternoon his house was raided, his elder brother Adeel Khan was picked up in an old case and his younger brother Kashif was searched for. By evening, Dr. Kafeel with his elder brother was sent to Gorakhpur jail.
The continuing attack on Dr. Kafeel Khan who is still under suspension even after a year and a month of Gorakhpur oxygen tragedy must be stopped at any cost. A doctor who is fearlessly pointing out and fighting the shambled health situations in Uttar Pradesh is continuously being witch-hunted by Yogi Adityanath government.
The health conditions are vulnerable to children who belong to the lower strata of the society, they easily get affected by Japanese encephalitis which has no cure in government medical colleges.
Dr. Kafeel and other doctors who were suspended are neither taken back to the service nor they are replaced by other doctors. The government did not expel them from service to keep them tied up and not letting continue private service.
Around 70 youths are murdered by UP police in a very short period. The murdered people are mostly Muslims, Dalits, and OBCs. These fake encounters clearly indicate the intention of the communal Yogi government in portraying Muslims as main social miscreants in the state. Dr. Kafeel’s brother Kashif survived a murder attempt recently. BJP MP Kamlesh Paswan is the suspected attacker. The Kafeel family filed an FIR against Kamlesh Paswan but no investigation done in the case.
We condemn the injustice being done to the children of Gorakhpur, to Dr. Kafeel, the mainstream media silence in his case and the attempts by Yogi government to silence him.
Abdul Wahid Sheikh
Teesta Setalvad
Jignesh Mewani
Gomathi
Sumeet Samos
Round Table India
K Satchidanandan
Jenny Rowena
Gee Semmalar
Musthafa KS
Santhosh Kumar
Janaki Ravan
Archana Biddargaddi
Waseem RS
Aslah Kayyalakkath
Sudeep KS
Aleena Sabu
August Sebastian
Muhammed Farhad
Arathy Madhav
Harshad
Narayanan M Sankaran
Sree Lakshmi
Parvathy Bipin
Radhu Raj S
Iniyavan Banumathi
Swathi Soman
UM Mukhthar
