By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: The residents of Jamia Nagar, a Muslim populated area in South-East Delhi, have been living under constant fear since the Batla House encounter of September 2008 because of several attempts at regular interval of investigative/police agencies to pick Muslim youths from the area. The latest occurred in the wee hours of Thursday but the bid was foiled by locals who woke up and gheraoed the team of Delhi police.
The drama unfolded during the early morning hours of Thursday when policemen, most of them in plain clothes, tried to forcibly pick some residents of Batla House locality, alleging them to be “illegal Bangladeshi.” The local police alleged that they had no information about the “raid.”
It was at about 1:30 am when occupants of a building in the area got a knock. The next thing was that Rustam Khan and 7 other residents were being forcibly taken by the cops.
Khan alleged that the police didn’t reveal why he along with his other neighbors were being taken so late at night. Besides Khan’s wife Rubeena, others who were being taken by the cops included other occupants of the same building where he stays. Two of the residents reportedly belong to West Bengal and the rest hail from Bihar.
In no time, almost the entire nearby area woke up after the occupants of the building started screaming for help. When Khan’s neighbors came out they reportedly found that he along with his wife and several others were being pushed inside a vehicle.
The angry and agitated crowd which had gathered at the spot confronted the raiding team and asked why Khan and others were being taken away so late at night. The situation was almost on the verge of getting out of control before the local Station House Officer was called up who came and allegedly fired two rounds to bring the situation under control.
It was only after the interference of the local police that the situation was brought under control and those detained by the Bangladeshi cell were let off after they submitted their relevant documents including their voter ID cards to prove that they are Indians.
A complaint was registered in the Jamia Nagar police station against the six cops from the Bangladesh cell of Delhi Police. Taking the matter seriously the six cops have been placed under suspension by higher police authorities pending enquiry into the entire episode.
Ajay Chaudhary, ACP (South East Delhi) said the “police team from the Bangladeshi cell must have got some information about illegal immigrants and that’s why they might be checking if illegal immigrants live there. However, they should have informed the local police. Six of these cops have been suspended.”
Akhlaque Ahmad of the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) told TwoCircles.net that the, “police are to protect citizens and inspire a sense of safety among them and not to create fear psychosis by doing raids illegally.”
Asif Mohammad Khan, the local MLA told TCN that “we don’t have any illegal Bangladeshi living among us. If at all the police want to enquire and check about this, there is a legal way of doing that. Doing a raid after midnight without informing even the local police is in violation of the law.”
“Had we been informed about the raid, we would have cooperated to make sure that no Bangladeshi stays in our area, but this pattern of action from the police which has only created fear among the residents, is completely unacceptable,” the MLA further added.
The residents, community leaders and activists living in the area, which is also regarded as a Muslim “ghetto”, find these “pick-ups” “illegal” as most of them defy rule of law, violate human rights provisions and are done without taking into confidence both the community leaders and Jamia Nagar police.
Only a few days back the residents of Abul Fazl Enclave area in the same Jamia Nagar had foiled the alleged attempts by the Mumbai ATS to forcibly arrest Darbhanga native Taquee Ahmed. Even though the ATS said that its sleuths had gone to meet Taquee just to give him summon orders, the Delhi Police Special Cell considered ATS efforts to “summon” Taquee, illegal as Mumbai ATS had no jurisdiction over Delhi.
These events also take a very sensational angle as it reminds the residents of the Batla House “encounter” of 19th September 2008 in which two boys of Azamgarh were killed.
Hardly a month after the encounter, police had attempted to pick a youth from Shaheen Bagh area and vigilant people gathered and the cops had to flee.
A team of Noida policemen in civil dress had entered the Shaheen Bagh area in the night of October 16, 2008 and tried to force a youth Aamir in their black Verna car carrying no registration number. As the youth began crying locals gathered. Seeing the car without number and the men in civil dress they doubted the purpose of the ‘abductors.’ They prevented the men, which the Delhi Police and Noida Police later confirmed were Noida policemen, from picking the youth. The Noida policemen had come to Shaheen Bagh area in Jamia Nagar without informing the local police. The higher authorizes had taken the issue seriously cops involved in the case were transferred as punishment.