Liberty of individual was prioritised by the Supreme Court (SC) even in times when functioning of the court was constrained due to Covid-19, Chief Justice of India (CJI), SA Bobde said on Tuesday while hearing a plea relating to the detention of Dr Kafeel Khan. The bench, also comprising justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, was hearing a plea filed by Khan’s mother Nuzhat Perween seeking time-bound hearing by Allahabad high court (HC) of a petition seeking Khan’s release. “Liberty is something which we have prioritised even during hard times,” CJI Bobde remarked.
Khan was detained under the National Security Act for speeches made in December 2019 at Aligarh Muslim University during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Perween initially approached the SC seeking his release but the top court, on March 18, asked her to move the high court first.
The hearing before the HC was delayed, prompting Perween to move the apex court. “We request the HC to dispose of the matter peremptorily as early as possible, having regard to the fact that it involves the liberty of the applicant, within a period of fifteen days from the date the parties appear before it,” the SC ordered.