By Adv Saquib Ahmed,
With the recent arrest of 18-odd people in the so-called cases of conspiracy to kill prominent BJP leaders and attack the buildings of importance, the Karnataka Police has just imitated rampantly used theme which the Gujarat police has been continuously using since the Gujarat riots. It seems that to appease their political masters and to further their political motives, the Karnataka police is now copying their counterparts in Gujarat and are indiscriminately arresting Muslim youths.
After the Gujarat riots, to further rub salt on the injuries of the Muslim community and to harass them and to encumber them in their fight for justice against the perpetrators of Gujarat riots, the Gujarat Police started arresting Muslim youths on various flimsy and fabricated grounds of conspiracies so as to put the whole community on defense and in self apathy and deter them from getting any justice whatsoever in the riot related cases.
The Gujarat police and especially the ATS (Anti terrorist squad) rounded up several youths and framed numerous cases against them under various sections of POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act) and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and IPC (Indian Penal Code) for hatching conspiracy. In almost all the cases, the police came up with an identical list of political persons who were supposed to be targeted by these so-called “conspirators and terrorists”. The list would include the name of Chief minister Narendra Modi, BJP member Mayaben Kodnani, Bajrangdal member Babu Bajrangi, VHP member Jaydeep Patel and Pravin Togadia etcetera. The revenge theory was used to the best as all these political persons allegedly played a major role in the Gujarat riots. Further accusations were made against these arrested persons that they received training in Pakistan and that they went there through various routes and that they are member of terrorist organization like, HuJI, LET, ISI, etcetera. It is pertinent to note that in most of the cases no evidence is provided even to base such accusations.
The Gujarat ATS went one step ahead in fabricating cases and used encounter as the means to give some credence to these fragile conspiracies. After the encounters, the Police would report fabricated stories to the media that the accused were on a mission to Kill Modi. This exemplified the deceased as a monster and vitiated the atmosphere to such an extent that even questioning the encounter was looked down upon. The Gujarat government itself accepted that the encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kauserbi, Tulsi Prajapati, and Ishrat Jahan and three others were not encounters but they were murdered in cold blood by the police. After the recent Supreme Court judgment, all the encounters since 2002 are now under investigation.
Now I would like to draw out instances of cases where accusations have been made against Muslim youths for conspiracy, for getting arms training in Pakistan, for being members of banned terrorist associations and offences against them were registered under various sections of POTA/ Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act/ Arms Act/ IPC and how all of these conspiracies share identical themes and the identical judgments that they all received from the court of law.
Sameer Khan Pathan:
As per the F.I.R. registered on September 30, the then police chief K R Kaushik had intelligence information that a JeM terrorist, who was an accused in the killing of a constable, was coming from Mumbai to Gujarat And that he had received terrorist training with the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Pakistan and was out to kill Chief Minister Narendra Modi, and other BJP and VHP leaders like L K Advani and Pravin Togadia.. He then passed the information to the then JCP P P Pandey who directed Vanzara to probe whether Sameer Khan was part of the Akshardham terror attack.
Khan was said to be arrested on the afternoon of September 27, 2002. The police were granted a 14-day remand of Sameer Khan and thereafter he was transferred to judicial custody. He was again arrested on a transfer warrant in the Constable Vishnu murder case. On the night of October 21 at 1 am, Sameer Khan was taken to the spot where Vishnu was killed. As per the police theory, Sameer Khan snatched PSI K M Vaghela’s revolver and tried to run away, but was shot dead by the police.
In the court, the police had presented 12 co-accused in the case alleging they had helped him procure fake documents, including a passport and driving licence under a false name of Nawab Khan. According to the police, Sameer had gone to Pakistan on January 13, 1998. However, the passport officer testified in the lower court that a passport under the name of Nawab Khan was delivered only on March 27, 1998. The lower court refused to frame charges and dismissed it.
The state government then filed an appeal in Gujarat High Court, which too observed that there was no evidence to prove that Sameer Khan went to Pakistan on the date mentioned by the police and so “an adverse inference is required to be drawn against the investigating agency”. The court also held that no weapons were recovered from Sameer.
Conspiracy for Plantation of Bombs in Six buildings at Ahmedabad 2002 after Godhara Carnage FIR No. I-CR No. 01/2006 ATS Police Station, Sessions Case No. 71/2006 In this case, the police had arrested 6 persons, again, on the charges of conspiracy. As per the F.I.R., in 2002, after Godhra train massacre, communal riots had flared up in Gujarat, in which Muslim people had incurred loss of life and property, and to avenge that, Islamic terrorist organizations from Pakistan like Jaishe Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Toiba etc. started instigating Muslim youths to join and accomplish the malicious intentions of targeting top leaders of VHP and BJP and to plunder places of economic interest in Gujarat and to cause bomb blasts at religious places. As a part of such Jehadi terrorist activities, Akshardham was attacked and former Home minister Shri Haren Pandya was killed. The F.I.R. further mentions that these persons as part of conspiracy to take vengeance of the 2002 riots against Muslims have planned to plants bombs and blow up several buildings. Ironically, the complaint of the complainant also starts from 2002 and it has been stated that one of the accused went to a mosque on 27.5.02 on his birthday and in the mosque he was crying thinking about all the deaths and destruction that the Muslims suffered during 2002 riots. It is further alleged that in the complaint that the accused there met with a person named Zahid @ Abu Talha from Riyadh, Saudia Arabia who instigated him to take revenge and for that he would supply money and weapons. It is also alleged in the complaint that this Zahid @ Abu Talha was a member of Jaish-e-Mohammad and I.S.I. of Pakistan.
Offences were registered U/s 120B, 121, 121A, 122, 123 of IPC and Sec. 25(1)A, 27, 29 of Arms Act and Sec. 4 of Explosive Substance Act and 17, 18, 19, 20. 23(1), 38, 39 and 40 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2004.
In the judgment, the Hon’ble Judge observed that the investigating officer accepted that he had made no inquiries about that person Zahid @ Abu Talha and also made no efforts to search him. The Hon’ble Judge further observed that there are no recovery from these persons and that all the facts of the complaint of the complainant about conspiracy are nothing but hearsay. The Sessions Court acquitted all the accused persons.. Here, I want to point out that this Zahid @ Abu Talha is just a fictitious character who is said to be based in Saudi Arabia and his name is reported in few other cases also but in all the cases, no direct or indirect inquiry is made against him as is evidence from the excerpt of the judgment above.
Blast at Nehrunagar Cross Road Tea Stall
FIR No. I-CR No. 894/2003 Satelite Police Station Sessions Case No. 279/2006
In this case, the police had arrested 4 persons, again, on the charges of conspiracy and carrying out a bomb blast. The accused persons are same as were in the previous case except for two persons who were accused in that case but are not in this case. Like in the previous case, here also, the ATS alleged that these persons as part of conspiracy to take vengeance of the 2002 riots against Muslims and as part of their plan to plant bombs and blow up several buildings, they carried out blast at Nehrunagar Cross Road. Offences were registered 120B, 307, 121, 122, 123 of IPC and Sec. 3 & 4 of The Explosive Substance Act and 17, 18, 19, 20. 23(1), 38 and 39 of The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2004.
The Sessions Court observed in its judgment that there are no recovery from these persons and that the important witnesses in the case, that is, the investigating officers who were serving as P.I and Dy.S.P. of ATS that they made contradictory statements and made statements against what is on record and made false statements about the proceedings they carried out in the investigation. The Sessions Court acquitted all the accused persons in the case.
Conspiracy to create terror in Gujarat by planting Bomb at various important places of Gujarat FIR No. I – CR No. 02/2006 Registered with Anti Terrorist Squad Police Station Sessions Case No. 96/2007 In this case 6 accused persons were arrested for conspiracy. It is alleged in the F.I.R. that in the year – 2002, the Muslim community suffered death and destruction in Gujarat Pogrom and these persons came into the contact with the prohibited Islamic Terrorist Organizations like Lashkar-E-Taiyaba and Harkat-ul-Jehade Islami (HuJI) and that they are working under the instructions of I.S.I. of Pakistan, and that they got the terrorist training through Azam Chima @ Baba of Pakistan and got the weapons, explosives and financial help of Rupees one lakh through Havala, to sent some more Muslim youths from Gujarat to Pakistan for taking Jehadi Training. They were sent to Tehran by flight of Iran to go to the Pakistan for training on 09.12.2005 by preparing the VISA and other documents. They had planned to target the offices of the R.S.S. and Bajrang Dal and planned the conspiracy to blast Gujarat Kandla Pipe Line, Somnath Temple, Ahmedabad Sabarmati Railway over-bridge by bomb blast and to fulfill this objective and to spread terrorism and anarchy, the local Muslim youths were instigated.
Offences were registered against the accused persons under section 120B, 121, 121A, 122, 123 of IPC and Sec. 4 & 5 of Explosive Substance Act and 17, 18, 19, 20. 23, 38, 39 and 40 of The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2004.
The Sessions court in it order found that no evidence has been proved to support the case that the conspiracy was made to attack any places like the offices of the R.S.S. and Bajrang Dal and to blast Gujarat Kandla Pipe Line, Somnath Temple in Gujarat as is stated in the complaint. Some of the accused were already arrested in New Delhi and that a separate case in New Delhi is going against them there. The Sessions court also said in its judgment that the fact mentioned in the complaint that these persons were thinking about taking the vengeance of the 2002 riots are totally based on fictitious and imaginatory ideas of the police. All the persons who were arrested were acquitted.
Haren Pandya Murder Case
FIR No. RC 2 (S) SIC/I New Delhi 2003 —- POTA Case No. 10/03
15 persons were arrested for the murder of Mr Haren Pandya who was shot dead at Ahmedabad. The Hon’ble High Court in its order while acquitting the accused of the offence and quashing the order of the Sessions Court mentioned that the careful and meticulous mentioning of only five gunshots throughout the relevant evidence for the prosecution makes the whole prosecution case a possibly well-orchestrated concoction of a story away from the whole truth of the matter. The discussion of ocular, ballistic and medical evidence and the ham-handed rejection of the expert’s opinion as discussed hereinabove, only strengthened the argument for the appellants that the conclusions drawn by the trial Court were perverse and illogical.
Also Malegaon in 2006 and 2008, on the Samjhauta Express in 2007, in Ajmer Sharif in 2007 and Mecca Masjid in 2007.
In all the above cases, more than 30 Muslim youths were arrested under various sections of MCOCA and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for terrorist activities and for bomb blast. The police initially rounded up 300 Muslim youths for the blast in Mecca Masjid. The Sessions court acquitted them all and the case is now filed against persons belonging to right-wing Hindu organization for these offences. In the Meccas Masji Blast case, the court not only acquitted them but then the government went on to grant compensation ranging from 3 Lakhs to 20,000 to more than 100 people for wrongful arrest and detention.
Code:
In all the above cases, the very first reaction of the media is that the police arrested youths who were on the verge of doing catastrophic and dastardly activities against the nation. The media leaves no stone unturned in projecting these persons as savage beasts who can even kill people from their own community to create hatred for people of other communities as was in the case of Mecca Masjid, Malegaon and Ajmer Sharif blast case. The media stigmatized them and their family. They laud police every time such so-called conspiracy is “unraveled” by them or when any encounters of such “conspirators” are carried out. The media seldom asks questions about the veracity and antecedents of these facts and blatantly disseminate them to the common people further creating a stereotype wherein people of minority community are made to look like they are against the nation. They rarely give any other version than the one provided to them by the police, let alone having their own independent inquiry about the accused persons. The family or the lawyers of the accused are never given a chance to put their case before the people.
When the case falls flat in the court and this happens most of the time, the defense generally taken by the Police is that they had evidence against the alleged conspirators but they were not substantial but a closer look at the remarks made by the Hon’ble Sessions court and the High Courts busts this myth created by the Police of their genuineness in arresting people. In all of the above cases, it is specifically mentioned that the police fabricated and concocted the alleged conspiracy. In most of the cases, the accused were released not on the grounds of benefit of doubt but due to lack of evidence. In the Haren Pandya case, the High Court observed that the case of the prosecution case is possibly a well-orchestrated concoction of a story away from the whole truth of the matter and in another case, the Hon’ble sessions court observed that the investigating officers of the case made contradictory statements and made statements against what is on record and made false statements about the proceedings they carried out in the investigation and such kind observations are made throughout in the orders of the above-mentioned cases.
Pertinent to note here is that in Mecca Masjid Blast case, out of the 32 persons who were arrested, many were pursuing professional courses like engineering and medicine. The mala fide action of the police destroyed their careers and ruined their hope of living a life of dignity in the society. It is an irony that a student who was in the final year of M.B.B.S. is given a rickshaw as compensation for the time he spent in prison. Like Gujarat where the innocents were arrested and booked for conspiracy and other offences by the police to serve their political masters, it seems that the same game is now being played in Karnataka with the arrest of 18-odd youths.
(Adv Saquib Ahmed can be contacted at [email protected])