In the wake of recent attempts of police to illegally pick up Muslim youths from Jamia Nagar, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind organised a programme on “Illegal Arrests of Muslim Youths and Our Responsibilities” on Feb. 19 to discuss the viable options for the people in order to foil such hideous activities of men in khakhi. In his presidential speech, Mr. N. D. Pancholi, the lawyer who fought Amir’s case and was instrumental in securing justice for him, said, “Police are for the protection of common people; however here we see that they are working on the diktats of the rulers. In most of the cases arrest of innocent people takes place way before the incident happens.”
He further stressed the diabolical role the police play to implicate innocent youths in heinous crimes. “In most of the cases the detainees are taken to different states, where majority of lawyers show reluctance in taking up the case. In such a situation, most of the time, the police arrange for the advocates for the detainees who do nothing but only make the false implication of the detainees easier, as those advocates make them accept their crime in pretext of making things easier for them, however, they only prop up the police’s claim.”
Concluding his speech, Mr. Pancholi said only a united struggle against the police can thwart the atrocities it is inflicting upon the common people.
The Secretary (Delhi Zone) of Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR), Mr. Akhlaq Ahmad, termed the day of the programme as a “black day for Indian democracy” as people gathered to raise their voices against the state machinery responsible for maintaining law and order in the country. He further said it is a pity that we have gathered to protest against that organisation which was formed for the protection of human beings and their rights.
Mr. Ahmad expressed extreme dissatisfaction and anger over the role of media in declaring the detainee as a culprit even before his trial. He further lamented that whenever any arrest takes place, media without any authentication accepts the police’s version and declares the detainee as a culprit and whenever any acquittal takes place it does not come around to report it and does not make public the mental horrors and brutal physical torture the innocent person faced behind the bar.
Mr. Ahmad spewed optimism in the listeners and assured them that the united continuous struggle against such incidence can help in the prevention of such obnoxious acts of police. He quelled the apprehensions of people regarding confronting police and said it is well within our constitutional rights to confront police and ask them necessary questions regarding their actions.
He further said that there are proper channels and laws that need to be followed in order to arrest a person and without going through the channel the police cannot arrest an individual. He praised the recent solidarity showed by the residents of Jamia Nagar which eventually saved the illegal arrest of a Muslim youth from the area. Mr. Ahmad said whenever such kind of illegal picking-ups take place, people should come forward and display their strength and unity.
On the occasion, Mr. Athar Kareem Qidwai, Assistant Secretary Jamaat-e-Islami Hind talked on the rise of the culture of hatred towards Muslims. He claimed that the arrests are very well orchestrated and are part of the strategy to intimidate the Muslim community. He said wherever and whenever Muslims become strong financially and politically, riots are unleashed to intimidate and destroy them completely. He further said that the communal forces in India are threatening the minorities and the Hindutva communal forces have now connived with Israeli Mossad and America’s FBI to further their agenda.
A day before, in a weekly programme organised by the Jamaat to address the same issue, Advocate Mobin Akhtar unveiled the shift in police’s strategy in zeroing in on their targets. “Earlier they focused only on poor Muslims whose voices they can easily suppress, but now they have changed their strategy and are now picking up educated Muslims, office going people and college going students in order to malign them in the society,” Akhtar said.
“Those individuals who know Deen and Duniya both have now become ‘a real threat’ for the world,” he further stated. He expressed apprehensions of Mossad’s involvement in the car blast as they know very well the art of playing victim and gaining enormous benefits. Advocate Akhtar also blamed media for the false propaganda it creates in the society just to make the news sensational without giving a least thought to the huge responsibility it owes.
Next he took a dig at the judicial system of the country and said, “There is hardly any justice in judiciary, it is merely eyewash.” He further revealed the police biasness and its treacherous techniques to further prolong the case. In one case the police filed the charge-sheet of 40,000 words and in Batla House encounter case the charge-sheet is of 11,000 words. He said the police deliberately makes the disgustingly long charge-sheets just to ensure that the detainee spends considerable amount of time in jail. He also educated people about their rights.
Speaking from the chair, Ameer-e-Jamaat, Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Umari said, being a citizen of the country we cannot take any step against the Constitution; therefore we have to use constitutional means to address our problems. He thanked Advocate Mobin for his enlightening words.
The programme started with the recitation of a few verses from the Holy Quran by Qari Abdul Mannan.