Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Police has slapped the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against Dr Kafeel Khan, who is in jail for allegedly delivering a speech at the Aligarh Muslim University against the amended Citizenship Act.
Dr Khan is lodged in Mathura jail despite a bail granted to him in connection with the speech in December.
"NSA has been slapped against Dr Kafeel Khan. He will remain in jail," Aligarh SSP Akash Kulhari told PTI.
The NSA allows preventive detention for months if the authorities are satisfied that the person is a threat to national security or law and order.
Dr Khan was arrested by the UP Special Task Force from Mumbai on January 29 in connection with the speech he had delivered during an anti-CAA protest at Aligarh Muslim University on December 12.
Two days after the case was registered against Dr Khan, there were large-scale clashes at AMU, where the police were accused of indulging in violence and were seen on video smashing two-wheelers and assaulting students.
A case was registered against him at the Civil Lines police station in Aligarh on the charge of promoting enmity between different religions. After his arrest, Dr Khan was brought to Aligarh and then immediately shifted to the district jail in neighbouring Mathura.
This was done as a precautionary measure in view of the anti-CAA protests at the AMU campus and at Eidgah grounds in the old quarters of the city. Dr Khan's presence in Aligarh jail could have worsened the law-and-order situation in the city, the police had said.
The doctor was earlier arrested for his alleged role in the death of over 60 children within an week at the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur in August 2017. Short supply of oxygen at the children's ward was blamed at that time for the deaths.
About two years later, a state government probe cleared Khan of all major charges, prompting him to seek an apology from the Yogi Adityanath government.
The CItizenship Amendment Act or CAA promises citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, making religion a test of Indian nationality for the first time.
While critics say the law can be used to persecute Muslims in combination with the planned National Register of Citizens (NRC), the government says the law will help those who have faced religious persecution in the three neighbouring countries.
(With PTI and IANS inputs)