Buckling under pressure from the Bajrang Dal and VHP, the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh on February 5 ordered the re-arrest of five activists of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) who had been released under an amnesty scheme on January 26. The police in Ujjain took the SIMI activists into custody from Unhel to hand them over to authorities of Khachrod sub-jail to serve the remainder of their jail sentence. They will have to remain in jail until March 2013 when the maximum punishment of five years given to them will end. The extraordinary decision of arresting them once again was preceded by the suspension of a deputy jailer and “lighter punishment” to a senior IAS officer and an IPS officer who were in-charge of the jail department. Sanjeev Kumar, deputy jailer of Khachrod sub-jail in Ujjain district, was suspended, Principal Secretary Sudesh Kumar stripped of the Jail portfolio, and Director General of Police (Jail) V K Panwar transferred as Additional DG (Police Reforms and Community Policing).
Jadil Parwaj, Aiyaz Riyaz Ahmed, Akbar Afzal Khan, Mehruddin Shaikh and Irshad Ali were convicted on January 12 for terms ranging from two years to five years but were released on January 26 in keeping with the policy of releasing convicts – on Republic Day and Independence Day – who have completed half their jail terms. But their release saw the Bajrang Dal and VHP hit the streets, burning effigies of Jail Minister Jagdish Devda and jail officials. The organisations demanded that the five men be arrested again because they were convicted of anti-national activities. They also called for action against officials responsible for the release.