By IANS
Hyderabad : Alleging police harassment in the name of investigations into the Aug 25 twin bomb blasts, the families of some arrested youth Tuesday threatened to come out on the streets if their wards were not released immediately.
Civil rights activists have claimed that police have picked up over 40 youths since the blasts that claimed 44 lives, but neither were their arrests declared nor were they produced in court.
The mothers and sisters of the youngsters, who included daily wage earners, told a news conference here that they were picked up by plainclothes policemen from different places in the city but their fate was unknown.
“My younger son Wasey was taken away by police from my house on Thursday. As a precaution I had sent his elder brother Rafey with him. But none of them has returned. I don’t know where they are. I have lost my sleep. Have mercy on us and please return my sons,” said Mujeebunnisa, an elderly widow.
Zaheda Begum, mother of Rayees Ahmad, said that he was taken away by two policemen in civil dress when he was returning home from work in Secunderabad area.
“He has already faced a lot of harassment at the hands of the police since the blast in the (May 18) Mecca Masjid. He lost his earlier job and his engagement was broken because of the police action,” she said with tears rolling down her cheeks.
Ghousia Begum, mother of auto driver Abdul Raheem, said her son was dragged from home by the police Monday night. “He is the sole bread earner of the family. I am a heart patient and I do not have the money even for my medicine. I am not able to understand why we are being harassed and tortured like this. Where should we go for justice?”
Arifunnisa, another elderly woman, said that her son and a medical student Ibrahim Ali Junaid had Friday returned from Delhi after attending a conference at the Jamia Millia Islamia and went to his hostel.
“He called from there to say that he was coming home but never reached home. On inquiry we were told that some persons dragged him away soon after he made the phone call,” she said.
Nusrat said her brother Zulfiqar was taken away from home five days ago. Zulfiqar, a sweetmeat maker, was the sole bread earner for the family.
“I am running from one police station to the other to find out the whereabouts of my brother. I want to ask Chief Minster Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy whether this is his government or the police Goonda Raj,” she said.
Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee secretary Lateef Mohammed Khan alleged that 40 to 50 Muslims youths were picked up and illegally detained by police since the blasts. The committee, however, released a list of 21 youths.
He claimed that they were kept at illegal detention and torture centres run by police. “These youth were kept blindfolded and were being tortured to make them admit involvement in the blasts,” said Khan.
“This is being done to tarnish the image of the community and portray all the Muslims as culprits,” he said.
He demanded that the investigations into the blasts be conducted in a transparent manner as people had a right to know about the culprits.
He threatened that if the demands were not met the organisation along with the victims will launch an agitation against the government and police. “We will also question those leaders who had appealed to the Muslim community in the last elections to vote for the Congress party,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hyderabad Police Commissioner Balwinder Singh assured a delegation of Muslim leaders that police would soon come out with details of those arrested during last few days.
He gave this assurance when the Joint Action Committee, comprising various Muslim groups, met him and lodged protest over the “indiscriminate” arrests.