AGRA: The UP police late on Thursday night slapped the National Security Act (NSA) on Gorakhpur paediatrician Kafeel Khan , hours before he was expected to walk free from Mathura jail, four days after he was granted bail by an Aligarh court.

Aligarh district magistrate CB Singh said, "Protests had continued in the city and AMU for days after Khan delivered an inflammatory speech on the university campus. In fact, students turned violent on the campus on December 15".

Deputy inspector general (Aligarh) Akash Kulhary told TOI that the NSA allows preventive detention for months if the authorities feel that the person is a threat to national security or law and order.

Khan was booked on December 13 under section 153A of the IPC (promoting enmity between different groups) for a speech at AMU during an anti-CAA protest a day earlier and was arrested from Mumbai airport on January 29 by UP Police's special task force. He was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days on January 30.

Khan continues to be in Mathura jail despite bail being granted to him by the CJM's court on February 10.

Khan's younger brother, Kashif Jameel, who visited Mathura jail on Friday hoping to take his brother back home, told TOI that he was very disappointed with the government's decision of slapping NSA on his brother.

"My brother is being harassed by the government because of his surname 'Khan'. Many political leaders, including those from BJP, had given inflammatory speeches but none of them have been harassed like my brother. They are trying to suppress his voice," he said.

On Friday, Khan's wife Shabistan Khan also reached Mathura jail to meet her husband but she started feeling unwell after she came to know about the NSA charges against him.

Khan's lawyer Irfan Ghazi said they would soon challenge imposition of NSA in court. "The state government doesn't want him to get out of jail," he said.

Claiming a threat to Khan's life in jail, Ghazi said that he has been isolated from other prison inmates and is not getting his medicines.

