By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
28-year-old Dr Ibrahim Ali Junaid is a practicing BUMS doctor at a private hospital in Hyderabad. He was in the final year of his medical course when the local police picked him in August 2007 in connection with the Makkah Masjid and other terror blasts in the city. He was exposed to third degree torture for five days and was unsuccessfully forced to admit his ‘role’ in the blasts. At last he was charge-sheeted for hatching conspiracy for terrorist activities in the country but in December 2008 the court acquitted him of all charges.
Talking to Mumtaz Alam Falahi of TwoCircles.net Dr Junaid recalls the days of horror and all.
Arrest, torture
I had gone to Delhi to attend a seminar on 26-27 August 2007. When I returned to Hyderabad I was picked from a local railway station. They bundled me into a van and kept me in custody for five days. They brutally beat me and tortured me. Then I was presented before a court.
What did they want you to admit?
They wanted that I admit I was involved in Makkah Masjid blast and some other blasts in Hyderabad.
Your activities before arrest
I was in final year of BUMS course. When the blast took place in Makkah Masjid I had gone there to offer Namaz. The mosque is just opposite of my college. The probe of the blast was given to SIT. They called several Muslim youths and tried to force them to admit their ‘role’ in the blast. I have never been attached to any organization including SIMI.
For last some years I have been attached with Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee. With a delegation of the group I had approached human rights commission to file a petition in the fake encounter case of Sohrabuddin Sheikh. When the police were torturing me in the custody they would repeatedly refer to it and say if I will go to complain in Sohrabuddin case. In that case Hyderabad police was also involved.
What was in the charge sheet?
They alleged that we were sitting in a graveyard and hatching conspiracy against the country. We had CDs of Babri demolition and Gujarat riot.
Acquittal
But court acquitted me of all charges in December 2008 as the police did not prove any charge.
Post-acquittal harassment
Even after acquittal, the police have continued to knock me at one point or other. During 2009 elections police asked me to sign a bond for three years to regularly visit the police station and sign. I approached election commissioner and only after that they stopped. I work at a private hospital in the city. The police visit the hospital and enquire about me. I am worried about my job. To complain against this post-acquittal harassment I have approached the state Human Rights Commission.