Allahabad: The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday quashed the detention of Dr Kafeel Khan  under the National Security Act and ordered his immediate release.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh, passed the order on a petition filed by Khan's mother Nuzhat Parveen.

The petition alleged that Khan was granted bail in February by a competent court and he was supposed to be released on bail. However, he was not released for four days and the NSA was subsequently invoked against him. Hence, his detention was illegal, the petition argued.

Khan has been in jail since January after a speech he delivered at the Aligarh Muslim University during the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protests in December. PTI