By Mahmood Asim, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: “My justice won’t be complete until and unless perpetrators are punished and taught a lesson as to what someone feels when 14 years of his life are ruined because of their dirty game,” said Shahid Badr Falahi, former chief of the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
Falahi was acquitted on March 26, 2015 by a Delhi court in a 14-year-old case related to “promoting enmity between different groups and publishing ‘objectionable’ materials.”
Shahid Badr Falahi
“When I was acquitted on March 26 after a long suffering of 14 years, I started receiving congratulatory calls. But instead of expressing my happiness, I feel ruined because of delayed justice done to me by state. I am not satisfied with this long awaited verdict when I see the police officials and their masters, who hatched and played this dirty game with me, are being promoted and considered as shining stars. My justice won’t be complete until and unless perpetrators are punished and taught a lesson as to what someone feels when 14 years of his life are ruined because of their dirty game,” Falahi said while speaking at a public meeting at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.
The public meeting, held recently, was organised by Democratic Students’ Union (DSU) on the topic of ‘Staging Encounters and Massacring the Oppressed’ in Mandvi Mess of the JNU.
Going into details of his cases, Falahi pointed out how all four cases were proven baseless in the absence of any evidences against him. “Delivering inflammatory speech, holding a poster in one hand and calendar in other and pasting a sticker on the wall of SRK Hostel in Jamia Millia Islamia were the cases against me but all false evidences get punctured in the absence of real proofs,” he said.
“Among 15 witnesses, all except one, withdrew. It speaks of the real story in the court about how honest were the people in that period,” Falahi added.
Describing the details of the ban on SIMI in September 2001, he lashed out on the role of all political parties, including SP, BSP and Congress. “How injustice is being done with us even through judiciary, when Tribunal of justice Mittal lifted the ban on SIMI, then why did the Congress government hurry to stay the ban? It was not the same case for RSS in 1993?” Falahi wondered and added, “Even the role of judiciary is not trustworthy as they (the court) stayed the ban without listening to our say in the court as the second party. It was really a murder of justice.”
“When we are unable to get justice, where and who do we move in this country?” Falahi asked.
Recalling the famous slogan of Kanshi Ram, former BSP leader, and Mulayam Singh, SP leader, when they had united to fight against saffron forces – “Mile Mulayam Kanshi Ram, Hawa Mein Ud Gaye Jay Shri Ram” – Falahi said, “But these were the two guys who helped injustice faced by Hashimpura people today.”
He took a jibe at the slogan of PAC as “PAC Bal is Sarvottam Bal” in wake of the fact that a Delhi court had acquitted 16 PAC men for lack of evidence against the crime perpetrated at Hashimpura.
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Feel ‘vindicated and relieved,’ says Shahid Badr Falahi after acquittal in 14-year-old case