*"Before every Independence Day, Delhi police catch a few “militants”, none of whom have been convicted in 10 years"*
*If it is I-Day, you must be a terrorist* *Curious catch of ‘militants’* *ANANYA SENGUPTA* http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090810/jsp/frontpage/story_11342318.jsp *New Delhi, Aug. 9: *Before every Independence Day, Delhi police catch a few “militants”, none of whom have been convicted in 10 years. City police’s special cell has arrested 29 “terrorists” in the run-up to Independence Day or Republic Day since January 24, 2000, the last two arrests coming on Friday. Some trials are dragging on; the rest are yet to start. “The police keep a tab on Kashmiris who come to Delhi, pick them up from bus stations or railway stations, keep them in safe houses and then produce them just before I-Day or R-Day,” alleged lawyer Shanwar Khan, who is defending some 50 terror accused in Delhi and other states. On Friday, Javed Ahmad and Ashiq Ali were allegedly arrested from a parking lot with two AK-47s, two hand grenades and 120 bullets in their car. They were Pakistan-trained and had direct instructions from Hizb-ul Mujahideen chief Syed Salauddin to wage war against India, the police said. Khan said he knew of instances where the Delhi police had accepted missing persons complaints from the families of the accused, who had come over from Kashmir — without revealing that the youths were in their custody. Social activist Shabnam Hashmi, who works extensively in Kashmir, said: “Kashmiris now avoid coming to Delhi during these two occasions (I-Day or R-Day) even if they have very important work in the capital.” *Officers who made such arrests used to get out-of-turn promotions. Nowadays, they get cash awards and recommendations for medals*, Khan said. Mohammad Ahsan Untoo, a rights activist who tracks the cases of Kashmiris in jails across Delhi and was himself arrested as a Pakistani spy, described how Kashmiris are “framed”. “If you are from Kashmir, they arrest you and keep you in custody till they find someone from Bangladesh or Pakistan. Then they link them with you and accuse you of terror activities,” he said. “The accused are kept mostly in an Intelligence Bureau (IB) safe house in Lal Quila, in the basement of Rohini Jail or in a Lodhi Colony house.” Delhi police arrested Md Amin Wani, resident of Banihal in Kashmir, from Kathua in Srinagar in December 2006 and brought him to the capital, Untoo and Khan said. He was kept in the Lodhi Colony house and introduced to Lutfur Rahman, a Bangladeshi arrested eight months earlier from western Uttar Pradesh, where he was studying at the Deoband seminary, Darul Uloom. Both were shown as terrorists with Pakistani links and booked under the Explosives Act, and held without remand for a year. Their arrest date was shown in 2007. They are now in Tihar’s jail No. 3 and their case is to come up in a court in two weeks. They are among the 56 terror suspects the Delhi police have officially arrested since January 2007, none of whom has been convicted. Untoo, arrested two years earlier, however, was convicted of spying — after the police allegedly tried and failed to frame him as the gunman who shot and injured Parliament attack accused S.A.R. Geelani. After Geelani said he knew Untoo and cleared him, the police slapped the Official Secrets Act on him. Untoo, freed on July 2 this year after serving out his four-year term, claims he was tortured in a lock-up and sodomised in Tihar jail. He said that after his arrest on December 30, 2004, from a Daryaganj guesthouse, he was taken to Lodhi Colony and then to Dhaula Kuan police station, where “they put rodents, frogs and bees into my dress after tying me with a thin rope around my ankles, abdomen, and neck”. He added: *“For 56 days, till February 26, 2005, I was detained and tortured in the police station.”* If there have been no convictions, there have been few acquittals, either, because of police delaying tactics, Khan said. “Even if they file a charge-sheet, the police’s special cell guys never turn up for court hearings, or use other delaying tactics. On an average, these people spend at least 3-4 years in jail. Since they are booked for heinous crimes, they don’t get bail,” the lawyer said. *Khan said many of the accused are from poor families and cannot pay a lawyer’s fees; nor can their families afford the expensive trips to Delhi just to see their loved one for half an hour.* Untoo has filed a case against the police in Delhi High Court, asking them to explain his arrest. Delhi joint commissioner of police (special cell), P.N. Agarwal, asked how his men always managed to catch “terrorists” just before I-Day or R-Day, said: “We know that around these days, terrorists want to do something. So our intelligence network is activated.” A former IB official denied the police were doing anything wrong. “I don’t care who was caught where or when or how as long as they are terrorists. One must also understand that it takes time to investigate such matters. Even filing a charge-sheet takes time,” said Malay Krishna Dhar, former joint director, IB. *With Regards Abi* “At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst” *- Aristotle* --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Nor can Goodness and Evil be equal. Repel (evil) with what is better; then the enmity between him and you will become as if it were your friend and intimate! Visit: sultan.org Subscribe: [email protected] Post to group: [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
