Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) has strongly condemned the suspicious custodial killing of Maulana Khalid Mujahid in Barabanki,Uttar Pradesh by U.P.police allegedly under supervision of the state government.
In a statement released on 20 May, the APCR said, “The statement of SP BararbankiWaseem Ahmad given even prior to the post-mortem that Khalid died on the way in Barabanki when he along with other three accused was returning from Faizabad court to Lucknow jail and the death was natural, seems false and fabricated.
“While as per Khalid’s advocate when he met Khalid in the Faizabad court at 3:30 p.m he was dressed in kurtapajama and was healthy but when he saw his body after the panchnama in Barabanki district hospital surprisingly the body was dressed in lower and T-shirt having injuries on neck and ankle. There were many dark blood spots on nose and ear of the body and most objectionable thing is that the panchnama was signed by ruling party leaders. Khalid’s uncle ZaheerAlamFalahi also approves the signs of injuries on the dead body. These contradictory facts and statements create suspicion and direct towards a big conspiracy in this custodial death.”
APCR strongly felt that “custodial killing of innocents arrested in the name of terrorism is a set policy of state agencies to save themselves from any legal action. We had seen it in the murder of QateelSiddiquiwho was arrested and then killed in Pune Jail in 2012. It seems that killing of Khalid Mujahid belongs to the same chain.”
The statement signed by Akhlaq Ahmad, Coordinator APCR, further said that this is “a planned murder of an innocent Indian citizen who was in judicial custody and belongs to the religious minority community. It is observed that custodial death of Khalid Mujahid is planned and executed by those state players who were named in the Nimesh Inquiry Commission Report as the culprits of illegal detention and torture of this youth.”
The APCR made the following demands from the state government:
1. Terminate and Arrest at once all the police officials named in the F.I.R filed by ZaheerAlamFalahi,uncle of Khalid Mujahid in Barabanki Police station and start legal action against all of them.
2. Start C.B.I enquiry of the incident covering all the state agencies and police officers named in the Nimesh Enquiry Commission Report including the police escort carrying Khalid Mujahid and the District Magistrate, Superintendent of the Barabanki District.
3. Release all innocents arrested in the name of terrorism as per the commitment written in the party manifesto.
4. Table the report of NimeshEnquiry Commission in the assembly without any delay.
5. Pay life compensation to the family of Khalid Mujahid.