I Was Wrong: Paresh Rawal Apologises to Dr Kafeel Khan
Paresh Rawal had made disparaging remarks about Dr Kafeel in 2017.
Bollywood actor Paresh Rawal has apologised to Dr Kafeel Khan, who was was charged in the Gorakhpur BRD Medical College tragedy and has now been acquitted. “There is no shame in apologising when one is wrong ... I apologise to @drkafeelkhan,” Paresh wrote on Twitter on Wednesday, 2 October.
Take a look at this tweet.
Over 60 children had died in under a week at Baba Raghav Das Medical College in August 2017. After over two years during which Dr Kafeel was suspected, arrested and imprisoned for 9 months, an Uttar Pradesh government inquiry absolved the paediatrician of any negligence last week.
Dr Kafeel responded to Paresh’s tweet, writing, “Thank you @SirPareshRawal sir I really appreciate that It was something that hit me hard. We should also be sorry to those 70 parents who lost their kids in #BRDoxygenTragedy”
In 2017, when Dr Kafeel was accused of negligence among other things online, Paresh had added his bit by calling him a “hero in the eyes of the ever-active termite clan.”
On another occasion, Paresh has demanded Dr Kafeel “stop playing the victim card.”
The 2017 Gorakhpur tragedy saw over 60 children lose their lives on 10 August and the following days. The children, mostly infants, died allegedly because of disruption in their oxygen supply, a charge refuted by the state government.
Dr Kafeel claims that he had rushed to the hospital in an effort to save lives of innocent children, and managed to arrange 500 cylinders. The government had maintained that the children died due to different illnesses, including Japanese encephalitis, and there was no shortage of oxygen.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)