Paediatrician Dr Kafeel Khan said on Thursday that the Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh tried to implicate him in a false case because he had “exposed the system”, PTI reported.

“I was leading a simple life,” Khan told reporters in Jaipur. “I tried to expose the system as children died at BRD Medical College due to lack of oxygen. This did not go well with our chief minister and a false case was lodged, and I was sent to jail.” Khan claimed “state-sponsored victimisation” by the Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party government.

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Khan was a paediatrician at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College and Hospital in Gorakhpur, when 63 children died in 2017 due to lack of oxygen. He was suspended from his post and jailed for nine months after a criminal case of medical negligence, corruption and dereliction of duty was filed against him. But an Uttar Pradesh government inquiry last year cleared him of all charges and instead lauded his actions to save lives during the crisis.

Khan was then arrested on January 29 for making allegedly inflammatory remarks during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act at the Aligarh Muslim University in December. He was detained under the National Security Act, which the Allahabad High Court quashed on September 1. Khan was released from Mathura Jail later that night.

‘Was tortured in jail’

Khan alleged that he was tortured in jail after being charged under the National Security Act. “I was physically tortured after the STF arrested me,” Khan said. “I was asked weird questions like if I have invented any powder to kill people and visited Japan to topple the government.”

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Khan said he feared for his life after his arrest, feeling that he could be killed in an encounter. “I am thankful to the STF that they did not kill me while bringing me to Uttar Pradesh,” Khan said.

The High Court, while quashing Khan’s detention, had said that his speech at the Aligarh Muslim University during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests did not promote hatred or violence, but was an appeal to national integrity.

‘Want my job back’

Khan said he and his family felt safe living in Rajasthan as a Congress government was in power there. However, he said he would ask Adityanath to give him back his job in the medical services. He added that if he was not allowed to resume service, he would hold medical camps in flood-affected areas of Assam as an activist.

Khan also claimed that he had no problem with the Citizenship Amendment Act, but with the “chronology” that said it will be followed by the National Population Register and the National Register of Citizens. “I don’t want citizens to be discriminated against on the basis of their religion,” he said. The doctor also thanked Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav for supporting him.