Accusing Uttar Pradesh Police of intimidating his 70-year-old mother and targeting his family members, pediatrician and activist Dr. Kafeel Khan has said that the cops came to his home in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday evening.
Khan said while his in Kerala promoting his new book ‘The Gorakhpur Hospital Tragedy’, the men in uniform reached his home where only his mother resides and questioned her to warn her of the consequences of him speaking out.
“I’m in Kerala to promote my book among people, away from UP elections, busy with providing medical aid to children…but they cannot even tolerate this. What do they want to prove by sending police to intimidate my 70-year-old mother?? Do they want to arrest or murder? Do whatever you want, I’m not afraid,” Kafeel Khan tweeted in Hindi.
Khan also shared the photographs which showed policemen outside his home.
Responding to Kafeel Khan’s tweet, Gorakhpur Police said: “There’s a history sheet against Dr. Kafeel Khan in Rajghat police station. In the view of upcoming elections, police is visiting all history sheeters to seek their affidavit, and for this, they went to Kafeel’s home as well. Kafeel’s family told police that he’s out of the city for some work.”
Doctor Kafeel Khan has been targeted by the saffron party-led government in Uttar Pradesh.
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 was suspended twice ( first time after the BRD oxygen tragedy and the second time on 31 July 2019) by authorities.
In November last year, Khan said his services had been terminated by the UP government after 1500 days of “illegal suspension.”
This story first appeared on maktoobmedia.com
