Why M. K. Jha was Postedas Faizabad Police Chief at This Time?
SYED MANSOOR AGHA comments on the role of police personnel in the custodial killing of Khalid Mujahid.
The Government of Uttar Pradesh has as last moved Manoj Kumar Jha out of Faizabad and transferred him to PAC. Jha was posted as Additional Superintended Police Faizabad (city) at the time of mysterious death of Khalid Mujahid on 16 May, 2013 while he was being taken from Faizabad court to Lucknow in police escort following a hearing in a cooked-up terror related case. Mr.Jha was allegedly the man behind the arrest of Tariq Qasmi and Khalid Mujahid in 2007.
The notorious police officer, favourite of BSP regime, was posted as Additional SP of Special Task Force (STF) of U.P. Police in Lucknow range. It was he who framed Tariq Qasmi and Khalid Mujahid in bomb blast cases of Lucknow, Faizabad and Varanasi court compounds on 23 Nov 2007 and got them picked clandestinely from their native places. Qasmi was abducted in the morning of 12 Dec, 2007 when he was on his way to Srai Meer in Azamgarh from his village Sammopur on his motorcycle. Khalid Mujahid was picked up in the daylight from the market of Madiahu town in District Jaunpur on 7Dec, 2007. But Special Task Force under Mr.Jha showed them arrested from near Barabanki Railway Station with explosives including RDX on 22 Dec, 2007.
Mr.Jha was under the cloud from the very beginning, as tremendous evidences of his wrong doingemerged in public domain. Justice BD Nimesh report in the Barabanki fake case put the seal on the evidences confirming that both were picked up several days ahead of their purported arrest from Barabanki. The Mayawati Government, which instituted Nimesh probe, was also under pressure to act against the erring cop. She transferred Jha from STF and posted him as Additional S.P. (Crime) at her native district Gautambudh Nagar in October 2011.
Since SP has promised to do justice with the accused but remained reluctant and took the plea that it will wait till Nimesh Commission gave its report. The Commission submitted the report in August 2012, but the report was kept under wraps. For quite some time the SP Government was under heavy pressure to make the report public and act accordingly. Strangely, the SP Government transferred Mr.Jha from Gautambudh Nagar to Faizabad as Additional SP (City) where a case was pending against Khalid and Mujahid. The place is in vicinity of Lucknow, Varanasi and Barabanki, where other cases are being heard. The question, whether he was assigned some special task in Faizabad regarding these cases or he manipulated his transfer to that place with a specific mission, needs to be answered.
After Khalid’s mysterious death,an FIR was filed against 42 police officers for their role in the wrongful arrest and killing of Khalid Mujahid. Mr.Jha is also named as accused in the FIR. On 18 May, a massive protest march was taken out in the city. The protesters submitted a memorandum to the Divisional Commissioner of Faizabad demanding action against Mr.Jha for his role in the case. Demand of action and registering an FIR against the Additional Superintendent of Police naturally would not have been going well and has naturally frowned him.
It is alleged that Mr.Jha played a role from behind to call a meeting of District Bar Association which condemned the protest march and passed an un-ethical resolution to bar the membership of three advocates – ShakeelurRehman, Nadeem Ahmed and Saleem Ahmed who represented Khalid and Tariq in the case pending in the Faizabad Court. The trio had also helped in registering the FIR against police personnel and participated in the protest march with several other advocates, mostly from the minority community. DBA has already cancelled the membership of Mr. Jamal Ahmad in 2008, when he filed papers for contesting Khalid’s case. After DBA meeting, the lawyers came to the compound where he used to sit and damaged furniture and nameplates. Saleem Ahmad was attacked.
Now Mr.Jha is being named for this ugly incident, as the office of Tariq’s advocates was ransacked and Mr Saleem Ahmad was brutally attackedin the presence of Police under him. The police did not act to protect the person of Advocate Saleem and the property of Jamal Ahmad. Mr.Saleem was deeply injured and had to be admitted in the emergency ward of district hospital.
After the incident, Mr. Jamal has expressed apprehension of further attack and has demanded security from the police. The apprehension is genuine as Advocate ShahidAzmi was shot dead in daylight who was defence lawyer of Muslim youths languishing in jails in fake terror cases.
It is strange that the SP Government did not take immediate action against Jha even after filing the FIR and allowed him to continue as head of City Police. Demand of his suspension also fell on the deaf ears. However leaders and sympathisers of SP Government are regularly trying to give an impression that action is being taken to fulfil the promise to free innocent Muslim youths from jails.
Stern action must be taken against erring police personnel who have made mockery of law and misused their official position to make a hellof the lives of innocent families. The plea of adverse effect on police morale is rubbish. The administration is required to protect the innocents and not the law breakers.
[The writer is Gen. Sec. Forum for Civil Rights. [email protected]]