By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Hyderabad: The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has directed the Ministry of Defense to submit a detailed report on the murder case of 11-year-old boy Sheikh Mustafauddin, who was allegedly burnt alive in an army garrison here.
Mustafa, a madrasa student, was a resident of Siddiqnagar inside Mehdipatnam army garrison. He was found with severe burn injuries outside the barricade of the garrison. In his dying declaration, Mustafa told the magistrate that two men in army uniform had set him ablaze. The boy had succumbed to his burn injuries at the Apollo DRDO hospital on October 9.
Sheikh Mustafauddin and site where his burned body was found.
Taking cognizance of the representation by Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee (CLMC), the NCM on November 5 in a letter – TCN has a copy of it – asked the Secretary, Ministry of Defense to submit a detailed report within 21 days for the consideration of the Commission. CLMC in its representation to the Commission had alleged that the “higher army authorities are trying to protect their personnel involved in this heinous crime.”
CLMC joint secretary Kaneez Fatima told TCN, “After taking up the matter, it is now the duty and moral responsibility of NCM to monitor the case and ensure proper investigation into the murder, so that the deceased innocent Sheikh Mustafauddin can at least get the last respect of justice.”
This murder case created sensation after allegations of sexual assault and sodomy were raised against army personnel, whose involvement was getting investigated by the police. Later, the postmortem report by AP forensic laboratory confirmed that victim Mustafa had an anal tear which suggested an attempted sodomy.
There was a twist in the case when an army jawan allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with his service revolver inside the same army garrison on November 3. He was one among the many personnel reportedly questioned by the special investigation team in the murder case.
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