Gorakhpur Hospital Tragedy: Dr Kafeel Khan Finally Gets Bail
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Dr Kafeel Ahmad Khan was finally granted bail on April 25 by the Allahabad High Court in the case related to Gorakhpur’s BRD Medical College where over 30 children had died on the intervening night of August 10-11, 2017, allegedly after oxygen supply was disrupted by the official supplier Pushpa Sales.
The young doctor had been languishing in jail for the past eight months. His family had applied for bail on six different occasions in the past seven months.
READ: Is Dr Kafeel Being Unjustly Accused in Gorakhpur’s Children’s Death Case?
Dr Kafeel was lauded as a hero for saving hundreds of lives on that fateful night by arranging oxygen cylinders from here and there. But the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government did not appear to be his fan. He was removed from the post of the Nodal Officer at the National Health Mission (NHM) – which works in coordination with the state government in the fight against encephalitis – after his name hit the headlines for all the good reasons.
The Uttar Pradesh police charged the doctor under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 308 (attempt to culpable homicide) and 409 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Charges of corruption and private practice against Dr.Kafeel have been dropped by the investigators. He was arrested on September 2 last year.
In his gut-wrenching letter, penned recently, Dr Kafeel had described what happened at the BRD College and why UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was angry with him.
“Sometimes, I ask myself, 'Am I really guilty?' And the answer pops out from the core of my heart – a big NO. The moment I got that WhatsApp message on that fateful August 10, 2017 night, I did everything a doctor, a father, a responsible citizen of India would/should do… I did my level best to save those innocent kids who were dying because of lack of oxygen. I frantically called everyone, I begged, I talked, I ran, I drove, I ordered, I yelled, I screamed, I consoled, I counselled, I spent, I borrowed, I cried," he wrote.
READ: Gorakhpur Hospital Tragedy: Dr Kafeel’s Letter From Jail
Addressing a press conference in Delhi last week, Dr Kafeel’s wife Dr Shabista Khan alleged that the prison authorities were not giving proper medical care to her husband. Citing her husband’s ailing health, Dr Shabista urged the government to consider his deteriorating condition as an emergency and grant him bail on medical grounds.
WATCH: Exclusive Interview: Dr Kafeel Khan’s Family on the Gorakhpur Tragedy
“My husband is a heart patient, his blood pressure is running high, he is also suffering from depression. Who will bear the responsibility if something happens to him,” she asked.
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