Gorakhpur hospital tragedy: Dr Kafeel Khan gets clean chit
Gorakhpur (UP), Sep 27: Two years after 70 infants died at the BRD Medical College here, a UP government inquiry has given a clean chit to Dr Kafeel Khan in the case.
Dr Khan was suspended following the death of children in the hospital in August 2017.
Investigating Officer of the case, Principal Secretary, Stamp and Registration, Himanshu Kumar, said on Friday that Dr Khan has been given a clean chit in the case.
The infants had died allegedly because of disruption in oxygen supply due to pending payments to the supplier, a charge stoutly refuted by the state government.
The government has maintained that the children died due to different illnesses, including Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and there was no shortage of oxygen.
Dr Khan told PTI that "Principal, BRD Medical College, Ganesh Kumar gave me the UP Government letter. It clearly describes that I am free from charges of medical negligence, corruption and not performing duty on that fateful day when around 70 children lost their lives at BRD Medical College Hospital".
"My bail order of Allahabad Court of April 25, 2018, confirmed that I was not part of the tendering process of oxygen supply and also there is no material on record which proves my medical negligence," he said.
Kumar said, "It is a procedure that Government letters and orders are handed over in person under which the letter was given to Dr Kafeel Khan on Thursday".
As per the investigation report, Dr Khan was neither the nodal medical officer in charge of encephalitis wards at BRD nor documents contesting the same provided by the department were adequate and consistent.
The report also states that Dr Khan was not involved in the process of allotting tenders for oxygen supply amounting to corruption, or of medical negligence on his part on the day of the tragedy.
The report also says that Dr Khan informed seniors about shortage of oxygen supply and arranged seven oxygen cylinders on the night of August 10-11, 2017.
Dr Khan said he will hold a press conference in Delhi and ask CM Yogi Adityanath as to why his suspension has not been revoked so far.
"I have got the clean chit now. The question arises as to who killed the 70 children," he said.
Dr Khan said the letter handed over to him was dated April 18.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
