By TCN News,
Azamgarh: Jamiatul Falah has asked 10 questions over the picking of its two Kashmiri students from a train at Aligarh on 24th May, their illegal detention and torture for seven days, then under pressure they were taken to Jammu and shown arrested on 31st May from Jammu railway station by Sopore Police. One was released after more than 24 hours but the other was taken on police remand for his alleged involvement in some past local case.
Two Kashmiri students of Jamiatul Falah Mohammad Waseem Bhat and Sajjad Ahmad Bhat on way to Delhi were picked allegedly by UP ATS from Kaifiyat Express on 24th May morning from Aligarh Railway Station. The authorities of the madrasa came to know about the incident from the media when two Hindi papers – Jagran and Hindustan – reported the incident on 25th May.
In a statement on Monday (4th June) Maulana Tahir Madani, Director, Jamiatul Falah, said: Some armed men who claimed to be from ATS picked them from Kaifiyat Express at Aligarh station, they were blindfolded and put in a Scorpio van and sped away. After two hours of drive they were taken to a building and put in separate room. They were interrogated and tortured for one week. They were asked various questions like what kind of weapons are at Jamiatul Falah, how students are being trained etc.
Maulana Madani further said: Despite all efforts, they were traceless for one week. UP officers were saying their agency had not picked them. When media highlighted the issue prominently, NCM and NHRC was approached, the door of Allahabad High Court was knocked, Muslim organizations came out strongly condemning the picking, and Rashtriya Ulama Council organized a big demonstration and gave deadline of 5 days to produce the students, only then they were taken to Jammu, their guardians and Sopore Police were called. However, the Sopore Police announced their arrest from Jammu Raliway Station, not release. When I contacted the Sopore SP told me that he had no information about what happened to them before 31st May, Waseem Ahmed Bhat was wanted in a case, when we knew he is coming to Jammu we arrested him.
Maulana Tahir Madani in his statement has raised some important questions
–Who told Sopore police that boys are reaching Jammu?
–Who had sent Jammu Police to Delhi to bring the boys?
–Why Sopore police had taken Sajjad’s father to Jammu on 30th May?
–If Waseem was wanted, then why Sajjad was kept in illegal custody for seven days?
–If there was an FIR against Waseem since January 2012 (as the police claimed in the media on 31st May), why was his family not informed?
–Why police never reached his home to arrest him or to inquire about him in last four months?
–Why police never approached the madrasa if the student was wanted?
–Which agency had picked the two boys from train on 24th May?
–Why were they kept in illegal custody and tortured?
–Who is responsible for the suffering of the two boys from 24th May to 31st May?
Maulana Madani said that some agency had picked them with a planning. They wanted to implicate them in a serious case to spoil their life on one hand and to defame the madrasa on the other. If timely steps were not taken and united efforts were not made we can just guess what could have been their fate. Secret agencies are targeting innocents, killing them in fake encounters or implicating them in terror cases. Its examples are Batla House encounter, arrest of Hakeem Tarique Qasmi and Khalid Mujahid and in recent days, the arrest of youths from Darbhanga and neighboring areas.
“The case of Sajjad and Waseem is now in Allahabad HC which will expose the truth. If Waseem was wanted his family and madrasa should have been informed. The agencies are violating rules of arrest. When one is arrested, he is told about the reason of arrest, within 24 hours family is informed and the person is produced in court, but our agencies are trampling these rules and violating the human rights of citizens,” said the maulana.
“There is a need to create awareness among citizens. When such incident happens, without wasting time, court should be approached and public pressure should be built up. Only timely action can save innocents and violators of laws could be brought to justice,” he said.