By TCN News,
New Delhi: Eminent members of civil society have demanded Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chauhan to take action against the erring policemen who first brutally beat up Bilal Sheikh and when he came out of hospital after 10 days in ICU, he was slapped with false charges and sent to jail. The members of The Moderates group have also demanded enquiry into the entire case.
“We, the undersigned members of The Moderates, are shocked at the conduct of the Bhiwandi traffic police with Bilal Abdul Qadir Shaikh. According to newspaper reports, on May 2, he broke a signal and refused to pay a bribe of Rs 200 demanded by two traffic constables. His daring to argue with them so angered the police that they abused and assaulted him on the road, and then in the Kongaon police station in Kalyan, so savagely that it resulted in permanent damage to his arm. No sooner was he out of hospital on May 14, with instructions of complete rest for 4 weeks, that the police slapped another charge on him, under Sec 333 IPC (voluntary causing grievous hurt to deter public servant from his duty), ensuring that Shaikh was sent straight to jail,” the members said in the letter to the CM.
“This isn’t the first time a Muslim has been first assaulted and then implicated in a false case by the Maharashtra police. Severe indictments by judicial commissions headed by judges of the stature of Justice D P Madon and Justice B N Srikrishna, detailing the anti-Muslim mindset of the Maharashtra police, seem to have had no effect on their conduct. Unless their political masters make it known that such conduct will be punished, the police is unlikely to change.”
“We demand that the constables be suspended and an inquiry be held into the entire episode,” they said in the letter whose copy has also been sent to Home Minister of Maharashtra, National Human Rights Commission and National Commission for Minorities.
Signatories to the letter:
1. Jyoti Punwani
2. Subhashini Ali
3. Dolphy Dsouza
4. Manisha Sethi
5. Sukla Sen
6. Deepa Kurup
7. Rebecca Kurian
8. Dr. Bandukwala
9. A. Faizur Rahman
10. Shahid Ali Khan
11. Ghulam Mohiyuddin
12. Mohammad Imran
13. Dr. Zaheer Ahmed Sayeed
14. Parvez Bari
15. Ghiasuddin Akbar