By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,
Moradabad: During a clash between police and a crowd at Dingarpur in Moradabad after the alleged desecration of Quran by policemen here in the first week of July this year, DIG of Moradabad was injured. The angry police then registered several FIRs and indiscriminately arrested residents of Dingarpur, Ahsalat Nagar Bagha and Mainather villages.
Those arrested included around eight school-going children of these villages whom the police have charged under severe sections of the IPC which include attempt to murder for their alleged involvement into attacking the DIG.
But TwoCircles.net has now obtained some key documents that could rip apart the police claim.
Rizwan who lost his one leg, has also been named in FIR by the police
First, at the time of clash all these school children were attending classes in their respective schools. TCN has the copy of their attendance sheet which shows them as present in the class on that day.
On top of that, parents of these school children say that their sons have been illegally arrested and falsely framed into the case, highlighting several discrepancies into the police theory on the roles of these school children in the clash.
Razaul Islam, a milkman told TwoCircles.net, how his son Gulam Rasool, who was arrested when he was returning from his school, has been beaten mercilessly by police men in Moradabad jail. Gulam Rasool is a student of IXth standard in Bahman Public School in Sirsi in Moradabad.
There is nothing in Rasool’s report card (a copy of which is in the possession of TCN) which could hint of Rasool being involved ever into any anti-social activities. Out of total 210 working days, Rasool has attended 189 school days and has got good grades in his exams.
Rasool’s report card and police FIR stand in complete contrast to each other. While the FIR charges Rasool under sections 307, 147, 148, 149 of IPC, his report card describes him as somebody who is “imaginative, as well as a keen observer and displays originality of ideas.”
“Police version is completely false. The last time I had seen my son was when I saw him off for school bus. It was in the evening that I was told that Rasool has been arrested by the police,” Islam told TCN.
Rasool is not a lone victim alleged police torture and beating. He is also joined by Mohad. Bilal, Mohd. Ahsan and many others who are also students of nearby schools.
School Identification card of Mohd Bilal
According to the residents of Mainather, the clash between police and the mob took place some where around noon between 11:30 and 12: 30 pm. On the other hand these students were returning from their schools which break post 1:30 pm.
“If all these students were attending classes in their respective schools, which again are located in different places, how can the police show them to be present in the clash,” said Babar Ashraf from All Indian Ulema and Mashaikh Board (AIUMB).
The alleged vindictive behavior of the police while dealing with the aftermath of the clash, instead of taking the local Muslim leadership into confidence, has brought the local Muslims in confrontation with the police administration.
There is a substantive amount of anger and anguish among the local Muslims whose children have been arrested.
They are below 18, but juvenile law not applied
Another important point is that these boys can only be charged under Juvenile Justice Act as all of them are below age of 18, a fact proved by the age certificate provided by their schools (a copy of which is in the possession of TCN).
But reportedly the police, allegedly acting in a vindictive manner, has said that the medical tests of these boys showed them to be more than 18 years of age. What adds to the anguish to the parents of these school children is the fact that when they asked the police to show them the alleged medical reports, they were not allowed to have its copy. They are now planning to get a copy under the RTI Act.
Jitender Kumar, who was the SHO of Mainather police station at the time of the clash, told TCN that the arrested boys were involved in attacking the DIG and are more than 18 years in age.
Gulam Rasool’s photo attached with the attendance sheet which shows him as present.
There is nowhere that these parents, who are largely poor and daily wage workers, can go, asking for justice. The severe sections of IPC under which these students have been charged, have made sure that that they don’t get bail from the lower courts in Moradabad. They are now planning to approach Allahabad High Court.
“When police acts in such vindictive manner, you tell me, don’t these kinds of action, force people to stand against the state actors. Even if these school children come out finally, the slow judicial process will take the golden period of their lives,” Babar Ashraf added.
The vindictive and false ways of Moradabad police is apparent from the fact that it did’nt leave even physically disabled Md. Rizwan and named him in the FIR as one of the culprits which attacked the DIG during the clash.
The vindictive and false ways of Moradabad police is apparent from the fact that it didn’t leave even physically disabled Md. Rizwan, who lost his one leg in his childhood, and named him in the FIR as one of the culprits who attacked the DIG during the clash. “I was shocked to find out that even I have been mentioned in police FIR. How can they expect me to be there with just one leg,” Rizwan told TCN over phone from Moradabad.