In a pattern which has become increasingly familiar in many parts of India, particularly in Gujarat, once again in the run-up to the assembly by-elections in Gujarat, a number of Muslim youth were allegedly picked up by police officials in plain clothes, illegally detained and severely tortured, before they were sent to judicial custody.
If Dalits and tribals in the country are being held for Naxalite insurgency, the Muslim community is being prosecuted on charges of terrorism, human rights activist Harsh Mander said on September 29. “On the basis of scientific evidence it can be said that torture does not induce people to speak the truth. Rather it obscures the truth,” said Mr. Mander, addressing a press conference organised by human rights organisation Act Now for Harmony And Democracy (ANHAD) to bring to light illegal detention, arbitrary arrest and torture of five Muslim youths at Vadodara in Gujarat.
Referring to the manner in which people were taken away at random by the police, Mr. Mander said: “There is a pattern that exists in these cases. First, policemen in plain clothes pick up the individuals concerned and carry them away in vehicles which are not police cars. Next they are blindfolded and taken to farmhouses where they are tortured. The families are informed only later. Usually these victims do not have a criminal record.
“If a person is a Muslim, then it is almost presumed that he is a terrorist and the burden of proof is on the individual to prove that he is not a terrorist,” Mr. Mander added.
Shabnam Hashmi of ANHAD said the five youths in Vadodara were arbitrarily picked up by the police on the pretext that they were planning to bomb the “Ganesh Visarjan” ceremony.
“They were picked up on September 1 and 2. A few days later they were produced in court and the Vadodara Police Commissioner addressed a press conference where he alleged that the detainees had been in possession of a rocket launcher and sutli bombs,” she said, adding that two pieces of pipe had been identified as the so-called “rocket launcher”!
“When the detainees were presented in court, their body language and their bodily condition indicated that they had been tortured,” Ms. Hashmi said, alleging that the youths had been detained just before a by-election on September 10 in order to rouse sentiments.
Ms. Hashmi said the National Commission for Minorities, which had been approached in this regard, has decided to send a team to Gujarat to investigate the case.
Grieving over the way her son had been treated by the police, young Zahir Abbas Amiruddin Shaikh’s mother Rehmat said: “My son received electric shocks nearly four times on each of the five days of his detention. I hope he does not lose his sanity.”
Naseem Bano, whose 39-year-old husband Iqbal Husain was also picked up, said: “My husband who was detained during this Ramdhan month was not allowed to break his fast. Even after he was arrested, the police kept coming home and harassing us.”
“I met my husband once and have not gone again because I cannot see him in so much pain,” she added.
Dwelling on the legal aspect of the arrest, advocate Vrinda Grover said: “The law does not provide for illegal detention of people. Detention of people in farmhouses which are not jails is illegal.”
The families of three of the five victims visited Delhi last week to draw the attention of the Centre and human rights bodies to their plight.
The youth who were picked up by the police were:
1. Zahir Abbas Amiruddin Shaikh resident of Hathikhana Patel Faliya , Opp. Bismilla Mutton Shop, Fatima Complex, Baroda.
2. Usmangani Alias Nawab Abdul Ghaffar Ansari, residing at Kalriwad, B/s. H. M. Batliwala, Fatepura, Baroda.
3. Amin Razzak Sha, residing at B/208, Richmond Tower, B/h. Convent School, Fatehgunj, Baroda
4. Iqbal alias Ikku Majidbhai Shaikh, Aged 39 years, residing at 109, Rashida Apptt., Hathikhana Patel Faliya, Baroda.
5. Mustak Ismail Shaikh, 34 years, residing at Gujarat Mention building, Hathikhana Patel Faliya, Baroda.
Zahir illegally picked up on September 1, 2009 shown arrested on September 6, 2009.
Mushtak illegally picked up on September 1, 2009, shown arrested on September 6, 2009.
Usmangani illegally picked up on September 3, 2009, shown arrested on September 6, 2009.
Iqbal illegally picked up on September 2, 2009, shown arrested on September 6, 2009.
Amin illegally picked up on September 2, 2009, shown arrested on September 6, 2009.
All of them produced in the court on September 7, 2009.
They were formally presented to the magistrate after a gap of five or more days, during which they allege that they were blind-folded and taken into a farm-house at Sivasi Gotri Road, in Village Sindhrot and brutally tortured.
A press statement released by some human rights activists runs inter alia:
A team comprising Shabnam Hashmi, Harsh Mander, Rahul Rashtrapal met family members of many of the affected youth on September 25. Gagan Sethi and Shabnam Hashmi met the family members on September 26. They all testified to versions of the same story: that youth invariably with no criminal records, were picked up by people wearing plain clothes, sometimes using force, sometimes taking them under false pretences. They were taken blind-folded to a farm, and subjected to torture. Family members were not informed about their whereabouts. Family members searched for them in various police stations and hospitals. After Mohdbhai Vora, the local counsellor took a delegation to the DCP Rakesh Asthana, he was informed that the youth were safe and in their custody, even then he did not divulge where they were kept or why they were picked up.
The same late evening some parents were asked to meet their sons at the police station. They saw them from a distance and were not allowed to talk to them. It was visible from their appearance that they were badly tortured, some of them could not even walk on their own. Police secured varying terms of police remand, followed by judicial custody. The youth were threatened with dire consequences if they told the judge about the torture. The families were threatened not to contact any one otherwise more cases will be put on their sons.
It is relevant to point out here that the alleged terrorist attack on the Ganesh Visarjan processions never actually took place, and we have only the police version, that such attacks were planned, to rely upon. The fact, that the statements of the accused were obtained under duress and torture, the whole police case and the motives behind these become even murkier.
A team constituting Rahul Rashtrapal, Dushyantbhai, Sachin Pandya and Shabnam Hashmi went to the Baroda Central Jail and met two of these youth Zaheer and Iqbal on September 25, 2009. Both youth testified to grave torture. Zaheer and Iqbal were blindfolded and taken to a farm house about 10-15 kilometres away from Baroda. They were brutally beaten up along with three others who were also arrested. All of them were kept and tortured in different rooms. The police beat them all over the body with lathis, two men stood on Iqbal’s thighs, legs stretched wide and beat him up brutally, Iqbal was given electric shocks on his waste down-words, abused using the filthiest language possible. Zaheer was stripped naked and given electric shocks all over his body many times a day. They caught him by his hair and banged his head against the walls repeatedly.
Abusing him, they called him a Taliban and a terrorist, and degraded his community and mother and sisters. Zaheer’s hands were tied to the roof and he was not allowed to sleep for days.
Both Zaheer and Iqbal were not allowed to break their Ramadhan fasts till 11 p.m. The youth alleged that the police kept on forcing them to admit that they were going to bomb the Ganesh Visarjan procession and kill people. Zaheer pleaded with the police to spare him as he was innocent and he had no idea about the allegations. The policemen taunted him and said if he was tired of torture they would shoot him dead, and made him run across a field all the time aiming at him to shoot him down.
The team also looked at the newspaper coverage. Divya Bhaskar headline read the accused were picked up in possession of the rocket launcher, had foreign connections. Sandesh newspapers wrote: ‘When the accused used to come out of the mosque after praying he used to get into frenzy to destroy the Ganpati.’
“Rakesh Asthana, the Police Commissioner, Rakesh Sharma the ACP, J. D. Ramgadia, PI Crime Branch, D.R. Dhamal, PI of Baroda city, Halsika PSI SOG were all involved in this illegal picking up, detention and torture of youth.
“We have also heard that the Farm House where the youth were taken and tortured belongs to a close associate of the Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana.
“We urge the NHRC, NCM and the Govt of India therefore that these grave allegations are independently investigated and the guilty police officers severely punished.
“We hope suo moto action will be taken against the Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana for flouting the Supreme Court DK Basu guidelines and for using the premises of a private farm house for illegal detention and torture. Not following these guidelines constitutes contempt of the Supreme Court, which is a serious offence, punishable by imprisonment and fine,” concluded the statement.