Uttar Pradesh police have registered a case against Kafeel Khan, a former doctor at the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur, and five unidentified people over publication of his book, some text of which is allegedly against the state government. The book titled 'The Gorakhpur Hospital Tragedy: A Doctor's Memoir of a Deadly Medical Crisis' was published in 2021 and has been translated to several Indian languages.
Station House Officer, Krishna Nagar, Lucknow, Jitendra Pratap Singh, said the FIR has been registered under various sections of IPC and under violation of charges of the Press and Registration of Books Act on the complaint of businessman Manish Shukla of Krishna Nagar.
As per the complaint, Dr Kafeel’s book was distributed and sold among his supporters as a "means of raising money, establishing his innocence, overthrowing the state government and preventing the central government -- which the book claimed was pro-Hindu -- from forming a government in 2024".
He claimed that he overheard four or five persons discussing, over the phone, the need to orchestrate a conflict between communities to obtain money for a covert operation.
Kafeel Khan has been slapped with 10 sections under the Indian Penal Code including 153B for those who publish statements that promote disharmony or hatred between different religions and Section 295A which lays down punishment for deliberate and malicious acts, that are intended to outrage religious feelings.
He has also been charged under Sections 3 and 12 of the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867, which relates to mandatory inclusion of name of printer and place of printing on the publication.
Kafeel Khan was suspended from service in 2017 while working at Gorakhpur's BRD Medical College where several children lost their lives due to oxygen shortage in the medical facility. He was hailed as a saviour for trying to arrange oxygen cylinders but faced action with other staff members for dereliction of duty and had to spend six months in prison. The Allahabad High Court had revoked charges against him under the National Security Act (NSA) in September 2020.
(With inputs from IANS)