The family said the victim had visible marks on the body and demanded justice while the police has promised cooperation.
Muhammad Raafi | TwoCircles.net
NEW DELHI — An 18-year-old youth Zeeshan Malik had been admitted to a hospital in Delhi, a police officer informed his brother Ayoub Malik on the morning of February 14. Zeeshan was in Delhi’s Tihar jail since November 2021 after he was booked for ‘stealing a packet of cigarettes.’
Zeeshan had expressed his wish to meet his family in Deen Dayal Upadhayay Hospital where he was admitted, Neranjan Kumar, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI), Hari Nagar Police Station, informed Ayoub.
Within an hour Zeeshan’s family including his father, mother, and sister reached the hospital. But Kumar informed them that Zeeshan had ‘passed’ away.
Zeeshan worked in a car repairing workshop and lived with his family in a slum cluster at JJ Colony in Preet Vihar, New Delhi. He was detained on November 20, 2021, for allegedly stealing a cigarette packet.
Muhammad Yaqoob Malik, Zeeshan’s father, and a rickshaw puller told TwoCircles.net that on February 10, a police officer visited their home and asked him for Zeeshan’s identity card and asked him to sign a paper saying that his son had arranged a lawyer to seek bail. The policeman also sought details of Yaqoob’s other family members. Although he gave details about his family but denied signing the paper and giving the identity card of Zeeshan.
Four days later Zeeshan was ‘dead’. The family is unaware of what happened in the four days.
“The policeman at the hospital told us that Zeeshan’s vein in his brain had burst and he was complaining of incessant pain,” Yaqoob said.
The pictures and videos of Zeeshan’s body went viral on micro-blogging site Twitter and showed bruises on his body and dark brown circles, apparently because of beating, around his eyes.
At the hospital, Zeeshan’s uncle Furqan Malik told TwoCircles.net that Yaqoob was shown the dead body of Zeeshan. He could not recognize his son since his face was covered in blood. “There were marks and bruises on his body,” Yaqoob said and added he recognized his son by fingernails. (Zeeshan had some illness and when his nails would grow longer they would burst, as per the family).
The family was made to wait for the whole day and were not handed over the body. “They kept making excuses for the whole day and around late evening said that the doctors had not come and the post mortem could not be conducted. So they asked the family to come again the next day,” Furqan said.
The authorities at the hospital repeated the same set of excuses for the three days and finally handed over the body to the family on February 17, he said.
Furqan alleged that the body was stinking. “We could make out that he had passed away some days earlier,” Yaqoob said.
The hospital authorities provided a receipt to the family after handing over the body but it did not mention the name of Zeeshan or his father.
On November 17 evening, the family and some neighbours held a protest demonstration in front of the Makkar Hospital at Patparganj Road demanding justice for Zeeshan. Immediately after the protest, the police assured them they would cooperate with Zeeshan’s family.
“The staff of PS Preet Vihar, New Delhi will cooperate with the parents of deceased Jishan, S/O of Shri Yakub R/O E-40/144, Jhuggi Radhu Place, New Delhi in getting all the documents of post-mortem, statements, videography, etc. as soon as the same is completed by the Dr (doctor) and the magistrate,” reads the letter signed by Hira Lal, SHO of Preet Vihar Police Station.
Furqan said that Zeeshan’s mother Shona had gone to meet his son three times before the covid lockdown. She deposited some money in the jail canteen and met her son. “Zeeshan was doing very well,” Shona had told his family after returning from Tihar before the lockdown.
He questioned how come did Zeeshan fell ill and died in a span of four days when a policeman had come to their home seeking details of Zeeshan for bail.
The post mortem report, he said, also hasn’t been shared with the family.
“There were visible marks on his body when we performed his ablution. It doesn’t seem he died of illness,” he said.
Yaqub hopes that those “responsible for the death of his son” are put to justice. “Help us get justice,” he said.
TwoCircles.net attempted to reach out to DCP west and additional DCP west for a comment. However, the duo did not respond. The station house officer of Hari Nagar police station said that he was busy and dropped the call.
Muhammad Raafi is a journalist based in New Delhi. He tweets at @mohammadraafi