Raising concern over the arrest of Muslim youths on terror charges, Lok Janshakti Party chief Ramvilas Paswan on Jun 18 said it is extremely unfortunate and disturbing that Muslims are stereotyped as “criminals and terrorists”. While addressing a press conference in the city, the Rajya Sabha MP also slammed the police and security agencies for violating norms while handling such cases. “Police violate norms while taking young Muslim boys into custody on different charges of terrorism. They are illegally arrested, tortured and put behind bars for years without any trial. When a bomb explodes, cold fear grips the entire Muslim community.”
Referring to all recent arrests of Muslim youths from Bihar, especially from Darbhanga district, Paswan said the security agencies did not take the local police in confidence before acting. Even this was acknowledged by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, he said. He demanded effective laws to check harassment of the youths of a particular community in the name of ‘war against terror’. “Supreme Court has prescribed detailed guidelines which must be followed by the police while arresting people on any charge. There is a gross violation of these norms and it happens more in case of people from minority communities,” he said.