A research officer from TISS was harassed in Hyderabad only because of his name
By Mohd. Ismail Khan, TwoCircles.net
Hyderabad: It was 7:45 Monday night we arrived at the house of Advocate Rajavardhan Reddy who is handling the case of Bharat Mohanlal Rateswar alias Bharat Bhai a right wing Hindu activist and 7th accused in Mecca masjid bomb blast case. Sharib Ali is a research officer from Center for Social Justice and Governance at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, working on a project ‘In the name of law: study of terror cases’. I was helping him around Hyderabad to collect the legal documents of the terror cases and to meet the advocates who were handling those cases.
Sharib had already finished meeting with advocates who has handled the conspiracy cases in which Muslim youths were arrested. He was keen on meeting Rajavardhan Reddy to get other side of the story. Initially Rajavardhan Reddy called Sharib to meet him at Nampally Criminal Court by noon, but when we reached there at 11:45am, Mr. Reddy was gone for some emergency meeting, he asked us to stop by at his residence at Malakpet, Mumtaz College Road by 8 in the night.
I remember, even though he missed the appointment at the court with Mr. Reddy, Sharib was still delighted the way Advocate was speaking to him in a polite way, unlike some other advocates who made him run around for days to get legal documents of the closed cases.
Sharib had already explained to Mr. Reddy on phone what kind of information he wanted from him, and advocate sounded positive in providing that information. When we reached his house, it was locked, we called him on his phone and he asked us to wait outside his house, ‘I will be there in 10 minutes’ he said. We sat at his house verandah for about an hour; he finally arrived in his alto car along with his wife at 8:45. We opened the apartment gate for him, he came out of car, shook our hands. He enquired about me; Sharib said I am a law student guiding him in the city.
He directed us to his hall asked us to wait for 10 more minutes and disappeared. The hall was decorated with the portraits of Gowalkar, Hedgewar, and Bharat Mata posters pasted on the walls. He arrived in the hall after half an hour and with enthusiasm directed us to his office chamber. Sharib presented him his ID card and project approval letter from TISS. After taking a careful look at the documents he threw the documents which we took lightly but observed its ramification after an hour. He told us, in his Telugu accented English, “Don’t mind I have informed the local police about you people arrival. I have to take precautionary measures as I am on the hit list of terrorists, as I am the president of Andhra Pradesh Hindu.” Bangalore police has mentioned Advocate Rajavardhan’s name while pressing for more 15 days custody of Obaidur Rehman who was arrested from Hyderabad on Bangalore assassination conspiracy case, stating that A.P Hindu Vahini President was also on the hit list.
Mr. Reddy asked for Xerox copies of the documents, “Unless you provide me the Xerox copies I won’t speak”, said he in a harsh tone. I went outside to get the Xerox done, the moment I stepped out of his office, I saw two armed police constables sitting in the hall. When I went out of his apartment I observed youngsters on bikes arriving, entering hurriedly in the apartments, I thought he must have called his organization activists. After making photocopies when I returned back after 5min, the whole apartment was surrounded by 20-30 Hindu Vahini activists and police officers with an inspector started running into the apartment. Whole cadre of Hindu Vahini was vigilant, some were recording the bike’s registration numbers parked outside, and others were explaining the new arrivals in Telugu, that how two Muslim youths arrived at their leader’s house, who are seen suspicious.
When I entered the office, Sharib was interacting with Mr. Reddy, while his identity proof was being checked by Malakpet Inspector P. Satyanarayana. Even as Sharib was putting questions to Advocate Reddy, he has to give his own explanations to police officers raising list of doubts. Hindu Vahini workers were coming in to take a peek observing anxiously as inspector started examining Sharib’s passport.
Now Mr. Reddy started his part of investigation, why did you contact me? Why didn’t you contact NIA directly? Have you taken permission with the police to carry out study on such a sensitive topic? Police Inspector agreeed with Mr. Reddy. Then Mr. Rajvardhan Reddy started again, “Now a days Hyderabad is a hub of terrorists (pointing at recent arrests of two Muslim youths by Bangalore police), you don’t know what kind of situation is there in Hyderabad right now. You should have enquired about the situation with your local friend before contacting me”.
When the interview ended, Sharib asked police inspector to return back his ID proof, inspector stated we have to accompany him to police station for further questioning. Sharib and I didn’t have any idea this question and answer session will go so far. We looked at Mr. Reddy and told him directly that we visited his house because he himself directed us to do so. Mr. Reddy told the police officer in Telugu to let us go, as after half an hour of identity verification he is satisfied that we are ‘bona fide citizens not terrorists’. Before we started leaving with the police escort amongst the Hindu Vahini crowd, Mr. Reddy said to us, “terrorists are everywhere, I am not talking about you people, but I have to be careful”.
Police seized our bike, and took us to the Malakpet police station which was 1.k.m. far from Mr. Reddy’s residence. They made us wait in the reception for 10 mins, and then called us one by one for interrogation. Police inspector called me first, he inquired about my residential proof and about studies. I gave him details about my law course and shown my driving license as identification proof, they took a photocopy of it. Then he started interrogation about how I came into contact with Sharib. I told officer that a newsmagazine journalist gave him my contact to help him in data collection. When I presented my Press Card to the inspector, suddenly his rather harsh tune turned polite. Then he started enquiring about the character of Sharib, how I find him to be. After my interrogation was completed he called in Sharib and asked one of the police constables to take Sharib’s mug shot picture from a mobile phone. When Sharib resisted the move of the inspector, He told us, “look that advocate has called the commissioner of police, he said to my higher authorities that he find you guys suspicious. I have orders from higher authorities to interrogate you properly. And when police find someone suspicious we have every power to interrogate them and take their picture.”
In the heated argument inspectors phone rang, it was his superior, ACP on the line enquiring about the interrogation. Sharib handed over his passport size photo which he was carrying; police took photocopy of his passport, driving license, TISS authorization letter, and identity card. Before letting us leave, inspector said to us like giving a piece of advice, “That man is a Hindu advocate, he handles only sensitive Hindu cases, he is the president of a Hindu group, why you Muslims visited him, can’t you guys find any other advocate in the city?”
While we were collecting the bike to leave the station, one of the police constables who escorted us to the station came and said, “Brother why did you went to his residence knowing he is the president of a Hindu organization and you are Muslims, things are not good in Hyderabad, situation is not the same anymore. Explain this to your non-local friend here.”
We were caught in utter dismay, as we were heading home; I failed to understand how a research fellow from a prestigious social science institute could also become a target of suspicion just because of his name, Or it’s more about the widening gap and growing mistrust between the two communities in the city.
On this whole rather obnoxious incident Sharib Ali commented, “This incident, reveals deepening distrust between communities in the city. I as a researcher from a reputed institute had gone to meet Mr. Reddy in his capacity as a lawyer and I wasn’t even aware that he was the president of Hindu Vahini. I had gone there after having discussed the project over the phone and after being invited by the lawyer, only to be later humiliated.” Sharib also added, “I have been meeting so many lawyers, but this has never happened before. I was made to feel massively suspect. I am yet to understand why. The only reason that I can think of is that because I am a Muslim. It’s quite sad. “
An hour after I reached home, I saw two police constables on bike with a document in their hand taking my name and asking neighborhood shopkeeper about my whereabouts. Today Sharib called me and informed that since morning his mobile conversations are getting echoed, fearing it might be getting tapped, a beginning to the never ending cycle of suspicion, and for the “crime” that he belonging to the other community and dared to speak to a leader of Hindutva organization to get their side of the story for a fair documentation.