Delhi: On 1 December 2023, the Uttar Pradesh police registered their sixth first information report (FIR) against Kafeel Khan, even though the 44-year-old paediatrician, a once vocal critic of the governments run by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state and the Centre, had left his hometown Gorakhpur with his family in 2020 to escape further criminal action.
Based on an alleged conversation between four or five unknown people in Lucknow on 1 December, where they talked about Khan, the police have accused him of being a “secret” distributor of a book they (Muslims) wanted to use in spreading public discord and overthrowing the government of “Hindus”.
Khan’s book, The Gorakhpur Hospital Tragedy: A Doctor’s Memoir Of A Deadly Medical Crisis, published in December 2021, is a retelling of the tragedy when the Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College in Gorakhpur ran out of liquid oxygen on 10 August 2017, costing the lives of 63 children, and his role in securing oxygen cylinders; an account that many believe was captured in Shah Rukh Khan’s movie Jawan, although the actor who played him said he didn’t know whether Khan inspired the character.
Still, Khan wrote a letter thanking Shah Rukh Khan and told several publications he believes the FIR registered against him was because of the attention he and the tragedy received after the movie, once again reminding the public of government failure.
A month after an initial round of interviews after news of the FIR broke, Khan did not respond to Article 14’s request for a conversation.
The FIR says, “Dr Kafeel Khan Gorakhpur Hospital Tragedy–From Hospital to Jail” was written on the first page of the book. The complainant said the book neither had the name of an author nor any publisher, alleging that it was “secretly published” and “secretly circulated” by Khan among “apne log” (our people—Muslims) before the Lok Sabha election and they were collecting money for their “secret plan”.
There is no ban on the sale of Khan’s book published three years ago, and it is available online.
The FIR said, “Four-five people behind a hut near the LDA colony were using foul language against the state government, its ministers and officials while talking to someone on the phone”, and they were talking about a riot to “overthrow” the government.
This story was originally published in article-14.com. Read the full story here .