Families pour out their hearts

Kin allege police did not give proper reasons for youths arrests

Emotions ran high as family members of four of the 11 men arrested by the police for their suspected terror links, poured out their hearts on Friday.

Addressing the media, Sheikh Rafiq Ahmad Sollapur, father of Dr Jafar Iqbal Sollapur who was arrested from Hubli, recalled the hardships he had gone through to give his children a good education.

“I had to give up on a lot of things so that my children received good education. If justice is not done in this case, all my sacrifice will go in vain,” he said, insisting that it was a case of mistaken identity.

Seeking justice, mother of Mohammad Yusuf appealed to the police to allow her to see the sole breadwinner of the family.

“I appeal to the police to allow me to see my son, just once. I am an illiterate person who lives on Yusuf’s income. He sends me whatever he earns,” said Sakina. She also urged the police to reveal where her son is lodged.

Earlier, Atta-Ur-Rahman Siddiqui, brother of journalist Muthi-Ur-Rahman, appealed to the police to be transparent in their investigation. “I ask the police to conduct a proper investigation… They should tell us where he (Muthi-Ur-Rahman) is lodged and allow us to speak to them once,” he said.

The elder brother of the journalist, however, said he had complete faith in the police investigation.

“If my brother and the others are found guilty, then let the courts decide. We will fight it in the court of law. We have full faith in our (judicial) system,” he said.

He said the families of those arrested would hire legal services to fight the unlawful detentions. Jamat-e-Islami Hind, who had Muthi-Ur-Rahman Siddiqui as the office-bearer of its students’ wing four years ago, has decried the arrests and the investigation. On Friday, they said the journalist was never known to show any signs of being part of a terror group.

“The Students Islamic Organisation (SIO) is a forum which works for the uplift of society. Muthi was part of our organisation and had been participating in our activities on a regular basis. But knowing him for the past five years, he was never a part of any terror outfit. He cannot be one, in my personal experience,” said Ashfaq Ahmad, the State convener for SIO.

Criticising the police, SIO and the Association for People’s Civil Rights (ACPR) have asked the State government to be transparent in its investigations.

“The police have not given proper reasons for their arrest and have detained them for more than 36 hours without filing charges. Under the Constitution, the police are required to identify themselves before arresting the accused. They should issue warrants and then alert the parents or families of the accused. These procedures were never followed,” said Irshad Desai, convener of ACPR.