By A Mirsab, TwoCircles.net,
Solapur (Maharashtra): On Monday, Mahmooda Bi, 61, was on her way to Bhopal to meet her son Khalid Machala in jail when she received news about her son escaping from prison along with seven other prisoners. The unexpected news left her with all the more worried, and she deboarded the train in between at Ahmednagar station.
She did not get enough time to even talk with Khalid’s lawyer and within an hour, she heard the news she was dreading: her son had been killed in an encounter. The inconsolable Mahmooda Bi when returned home in Solapur, and the neighbours told her that before she came there, police had entered into her house through the roof.
The sad story of a widow did not stop there. When she was expecting to see the face of her son’s dead body, she was told by the commissioner of Solapur that Madhya Pradesh police have decided not to hand over dead body to her and that they will bury him there in Bhopal itself.
When the NGOs and media reached her house, initially she did not speak at all. Later when the sudden grief-stricken mother, whose other son Irfan is also in Bhopal jail under the allegation of being a SIMI activist involved in anti-national activities, spoke and raised multiple questions over the encounter and jailbreak.
Mahmooda has two sons and three daughters. Her husband died few years ago. Both of her sons are behind the bars and fortunately for her, given the circumstances, all her daughters are married. However, she is now burdened with the responsibilities of looking after daughter in laws and her seven grandchildren.
In 2002, Khalid got married to Parveen and now has four children. He has three sons – Zaid (13), Ukasha (12), Maaz (10) and a daughter Khansa who is six years old. Irfan too is married and has three children.
“He was not a terrorist. Go and ask any person in our neighbourhood about both of my sons, they would tell how wise they were. Khalid was confident of being acquitted in the case, then why would he try to escape from custody?” she questioned.
She claims that two weeks before he was killed, police had approached her and wanted her signature on blank papers but she refused to sign.
“I felt something fishy when police wanted my signature on blank papers. I got worried and did not understand their motive then. But it is amply clear now. I have told all the details to our lawyer,” she told reporters.
When asked about how her son was treated in prison, she said, “He was not taken to court but was always produced in the court through video conferencing. He was kept in high security cell inside prison. He was sure of getting acquitted from the case”.
She expressed dissatisfaction over branding of her son as a terrorist and said, “The false charges brought out against him by police were not yet proved and we are confident that police would never be able to prove him as a terrorist. They were losing the case and hence they killed him”
“He could not get justice when alive, I demand to give him justice at least now when police have killed him”, Mahmooda chokes while making her demand.
As per Khalid’s counsel, the trial in Bhopal had reached a crucial stage and the proceedings so far had been in favour of the accused; therefore there was no reason for any of the accused to flee from prison.
“18 out of 28 witnesses had been examined by the court and the evidence recorded so far by the court did not establish prosecution case against accused. The testimony of remaining 10 witnesses was also not sufficient to make out a prosecution case and therefore acquittal in the case was assured”, Advocate Tahiwar Khan told TwoCircles.net.
“Khalid was aware about the case proceedings. There was no reason for Khalid to escape from prison when he was awaiting acquittal. His escaping from prison and the subsequent encounter clearly indicate that it was a hatched conspiracy and hence should be thoroughly investigated”, he added.