JOIN USSuspects meet families after a week's detention
The agonising wait for two of the 14 youths, arrested in Bangalore on terror-related charges last week, and their relatives ended on Wednesday as investigators allowed them to meet their loved ones.
Police facilitated the meetings which took place at undisclosed locations in Bangalore on Wednesday. They will likely be allowed to meet again in the next few days, said sources.
Families of the suspects have been raising objections over the detention of their wards, who were picked up for allegedly having links with terrorist organisations abroad. There is also a hue and cry since no one knows where the suspects are being held.
Pressure was mounted on the police by family members and some civil rights activists, who demanded that the families be allowed to meet the boys. Police commissioner B G Jyothi Prakash Mirji had recently told reporters that they would arrange the meetings.
“As the city commissioner has announced we have allowed the families to meet their kin in custody arrested for suspected terror links. As and when the families are approaching us, we are arranging for such meetings.
But it is to be done under the supervision of the police,” said B Dayanand, joint commissioner, (Crime-East), Bangalore City.
Till Wednesday evening only two of the suspects had met their kin under the watchful eyes of the police.
Irshad Desai, one of the lawyers representing all the arrested in the case, said the families of Nayeem Siddique and Jafar Iqbal Sholapure had met their wards.
The rest of the suspects and their families are waiting to meet each other.
Efforts underway
“We are co-ordinating with the police, to arrange for their meeting as soon as possible,” said Dayanand.
Senior police officials stayed away from the meetings said sources. The meetings were emotional. Both the youths and their family members wept as they saw each other. Later, the parents spoke to them separately.
The parental visit was a morale booster for the two suspects after being assured that their families would stand by them.
Faith in legal system
Parents reportedly asked their children to have faith in the legal system. They also reassured their wards, saying they were planning to take help from legal experts.
They told them that senior police officers had promised them of an unbiased and fair probe. The youths reportedly claimed they were innocent and did not indulge in any unlawful activities.
Dadapeer, father of the arrested medical student Dr Nayeem Siddique, told Deccan Herald, “I was allowed to meet my son at an undisclosed location in a police van on Wednesday. What to say? My son, for whom I had spent my life to get him educated, was sitting there, handcuffed under the watchful eyes of four policemen.
‘Have faith in almighty’
He broke down as soon as he saw me. I consoled him and asked him to repose faith in the almighty and the judicial system. It was a very brief meet. May be it might have acted as a moral booster to him in these difficult times.”
Zaheer, brother of suspect Jafar Iqbal Sholapure, also met him at an undisclosed location. Zaheer declined comments on the advice of his lawyers.
Unheard pleas
Atta-Ur-Rahman Siddiqui, elder brother of Muthi-Ur-Rehman Siddiqui, told Deccan Herald he came to Bangalore after the arrests.
He said police had not allowed him to meet his brother even on repeated requests. So he had gone back to Hubli.
“We just came home (Hubli). We hear that now the police have allowed the families to meet them. We will come down and meet our brother by Friday,” he said.