Hope UP government will release Kafeel Khan without any 'malice': Priyanka Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday hailed the Allahabad high court directive quashing the detention of Dr Kafeel Khan under the National Security Act and hoped the Uttar Pradesh government will immediately release him "without any malice". The Allahabad High Court has ordered the immediate release of Khan, who has been in jail since January after a speech he delivered at the Aligarh Muslim University during the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protests in December.

"The Allahabad High Court today ordered the removal of NSA and immediate release of Dr Kafeel Khan," Priyanka Gandhi said in a tweet. "It is expected that the UP government will release Dr. Kafeel Khan without any malice," she said. The Congress leader added that she also congratulated all the "justice loving people" and party workers in the state who had been making efforts for Khan's release.

The Allahabad high court bench, comprising Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh, passed the order on a petition filed by Khan's mother Nuzhat Parveen. The petition alleged that Khan was granted bail in February by a competent court and he was supposed to be released on bail. However, he was not released for four days and the NSA was subsequently invoked against him. Hence, his detention was illegal, the petition argued.