By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net
26 Muslim youth have been arrested in the aftermath of Hyderabad bomb blasts but none of them have been charged for bomb blast case. If Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee of India (CLMCI), a human rights organization based in Hyderabad is to be believed many more can be arrested. Muslims of Hyderabad are living under a terror where perpetrators are uniformed and all state machinery seems to be against its citizen.
Muslim youth are terrified and afraid to go out fearing that they will be picked up. Rich Muslims are able to bribe their way out of the illegal detention but poor Muslims have no protection.
According to CLMCI, 26 Muslims were illegally detained by the Andhra Pradesh Police and tortured in Greyhounds compounds, Head Quarters of elite commando force of AP Police. Habeas Corpus filed in the state high court resulted in court giving a week for the Police to respond to it. This gave the cops enough time to torture them some more.
After much pressure, these youths were presented in front of the magistrate at his residence at night saying that they were picked up earlier in the day. These youths were later transferred to jail on some trumped up charges, bruises and wounds visible but ignored by the magistrate and statement of the accused not recorded.
AP minorities commission team and members of human rights organization who met some of these youths talk about psychological and physical torture of the third degree. Offending comments about their families and statements mocking their religion were used as means for psychological torture.
Junaid, the activist
Junaid is a final year student of Unani Medical College, and president of the students’ union. He was picked up by Police Task Force when he was returning home from his college hostel on September 3rd, 2007. He was produced before the Magistrate’s residence on 8th night. He was implicated in a fabricated case by alleging that he was apprehended from Nampally Railway Station on 8th. He was accused of conspiring against the state and that some literature was found from his possession.
CLMCI team met him in prison and story according to Junaid is something like this:
He was abducted by plain clothes policemen in a Tata Sumo car on September 3rd, 2007 while returning home from college. His face was covered with black cloth and carried to an unknown place. Torture including third degree methods started same day. He was forced to take responsibility of the serial blasts.
He was given electric shocks including to the sensitive parts of his body. His beard pulled and offending comments about Islam and Muslim women was made by policemen torturing him.
Torture continued for 5 days affecting his health, now he is unable to walk and have hearing problems. During the investigation very few questions were about blast and mostly the interrogation was about his activities protesting Sohrabuddin’s fake encounter.
Junaid was very active in raising slogans against police involvement in Sohrabuddin’s fake encounter. He was asked repeatedly about his involvement and punished for raising his voice against the police department.
Rayeesuddin, the witness
25 years old Rayeesuddin worked as a salesman in jewelry shop located at Secunderabad.
On August 31st, 2007 he closed his shop as usual but along the way he was picked up by cops in civilian dress. He was forced to sit in an auto-rickshaw and at Tank Bund he was shifted to a Tata Sumo without any license plate.
The terror cops stopped at Saifabad Police Station to obtain further orders from their higher authorities. Rayeesuddin’s face was covered in black cloth and dragged into a building after about a journey lasting half an hour.
He was not allowed to sleep on 31st night and interrogated the whole night. Questions about his family and religion formed bulk of this interrogation. From September 1st, he was subjected to third degree torture involving electric shocks and hanging him upside down.
According to Rayeesuddin, when out of pain he cried “Ya Allah” then police inspectors Ramchandran and Harish Kumar Gupta, IPS forced him to say “Hey Ram.” On his refusal he was given electric shock till he lost his consciousness.
Rayeesuddin is a witness in the case of killing of Mujahid Saleem by the Gujarat Police.
CLMCI Demands
“All cases related to Hyderabad blasts should be handed over to the CBI immediately. Those Muslims who are still under illegal detention should be released. Withdraw the false cases and release Muslim youths unconditionally. Close the torture cells located in outskirts of the city and in Greyhound head quarters.”
Holding the Chief Minister directly responsible for torture and illegal detention, CLMCI’s General Secretary Lateef Khan termed it as “a crime against humanity.”
“If the Govt faild to fulfill these demands this committee will start the movement by approaching all the parties, organizations and newspaper editors and prepare the strategy by taking help of other mass organizations.” said Lateef Khan.
[Photo by CLMCI and painting by Sreenivas Makineedi]