Nitish’s police does it again; Hyderabad family too scared to speak

By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,

Patna: This time they targeted a youth from Hyderabad who had reached Katihar to join a company. The local police in plainclothes beat him up and tortured in police lockup in Katihar. He was told he was a terrorist. He showed them his appointment letter and all other documents. They tore up the papers but fortunately for the youth the police soon realized their mistake. The family is too terrified to give details of the incident or file an FIR.

Mohd Athar Ali had got a job at Katihar branch of a Hyderabad-based company. He left Hyderabad and boarded a train for Patna on Sunday (19th June). He reached Patna and from there he took a train to Katihar. He reached Katihar on Tuesday. This was his first visit to the district and perhaps the state. His company could not send any representative to the station to receive him. He called up from a PCO. He was told to take an auto and reach the company. As he came out of the PCO, some policemen in civil clothes surrounded him. He showed them his appointment letter which they tore up. All other papers related to his job were taken away and torn up. They kicked him and pushed him in a jeep and took him to a police station. He was slapped and beaten with lathis. They told him he was a terrorist. However, after beating him for hours they realized their mistake. Two policemen accompanied him from Katihar to Patna and then he was given a tatkal ticket and put on a train to Hyderabad. He reached Hyderabad yesterday night (23rd June).

As the news spread in the city of Hyderabad some local people reached his home but his family was too terrified to highlight the case or lodge a complaint with the police.

“The family is too terrified to file an FIR. We urged them to not hide the incident. But they insisted they are ok and no complaints against anyone as they have got their son,” Khaliqur Rahman, a Congress party leader in Hyderabad, told TwoCircles.net on phone.

Three weeks ago in Araria, the neighboring district of Katihar, the local police had opened fire on protesters of a Muslim-dominated village who were protesting against the blockade of their old and only approach road. Four villagers including an infant and a pregnant woman were killed in the firing. The Nitish Kumar government of BJP-JDU combine has not taken any action against any police officer present during the firing, nor have they announced compensation for the victims.