Was tortured in Mathura jail: Kafeel Khan writes to UN human rights expert group

GORAKHPUR: In a letter to a group of UN human rights experts, Paediatrician Kafeel Khan has alleged that he was "tortured" in Mathura jail where he was lodged under the NSA for allegedly giving provocative speeches in AMU during anti-CAA stir in December 2019.

"I was tortured mentally as well as physically, denied food and water for many days, and treated inhumanely during months of incarceration in a congested, overcrowded Mathura prison," he wrote to the United Nation human rights experts.

Dr Khan, Who is now out on bail, wrote to the UN human rights group of experts on September 17 with reference to their June 26 letter, in which they had urged the Indian government to release him.

The human right group comprises independent experts, not the UN staff.

"The use of stringent national security laws/UAPA against political dissenters, in the absence of any appeal, is something to be condemned in all cases," Dr Khan told PTI on Monday when contacted.

Earlier, when he was in jail, his wife Shabistan Khan had written to the UN human rights expert group alleging unlawful detention of her husband.

Dr Khan, a Gorakhpur-based paediatrician, was also arrested earlier and lodged in Gorakhpur jail as one of the nine accused in BRD Medical college case relating to the death of over 60 children in August 2017 allegedly due to the shortage of oxygen cylinders in the hospital.

Khan on Monday met Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra here.

Khan, a medical doctor, was recently released from the Mathura jail after the Allahabad High Court quashed his detention under the stringent National Security Act (NSA).

During the meeting, Khan is learnt to have thanked Priyanka Gandhi for the assistance and support provided by the Congress during and after his detention.

ALSO READ | Not joining any party, would like to remain a doctor: Kafeel Khan

Khan's wife and children also met Priyanka Gandhi.

Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu and the party's state minority cell's chief Shahnawaz Alam were also present during the meeting.

Khan was suspended from Gorakhpur's BRD Medical College after several children died there in 2017, apparently due to the lack of oxygen cylinders at the government hospital.

A departmental inquiry later cleared Khan of most of the charges, but he found himself in trouble for an allegedly provocative speech in Aligarh over the amended citizenship law.

He was detained under the stringent NSA, which the Allahabad High Court earlier this month ruled was illegal.

After his release, Khan had gone to Rajasthan with his family.

"There is a Congress government in Rajasthan. My family felt that we will be safe. I wanted to spend some quality time with my family," he had said.

After he was released from jail, Priyanka Gandhi had spoken over phone with Kafeel Khan and his family and promised all possible help.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Congress had launched a campaign for Khan's release and Congressmen raised their voice for the release by signing signature campaigns, holding protests and writing letters.