Coinciding with the recent acquittal of Delhi-based Mohammad Amir Khan who spent 14 years in jail, a document released here says since 1997, some 300 cases have been registered against hundreds
of Muslim youth, in places where no terrorist incidents or violence had taken place.
“In many cases, implicated youth like Amir have been acquitted. In a few cases, there have been convictions, but in these cases too, the appeals are pending before the higher judiciary,” says the document released at a day-long seminar of 40 Muslim groups, organised by the All India Milli Council.
Amir, who also addressed the gathering, said it is good that people are discussing his case now. “It is a good sign that the people are discussing (the case), but when I was arrested 14 years ago, no one was ready to listen to anything. Everyone had boycotted me and my family,” he said.
Madhya Pradesh tops the list with 118 cases registered in various police stations, followed by 89 in Maharashtra. Gujarat has filed just 10 cases during the period. The speakers believed the filing of cases, along with arrest of Muslim youth in terrorist cases, were done due to communal reasons.
The 300 cases compiled were registered without any terrorist or violent incident, the evidence being generally flimsy and doubtful.
Trying to break the cycle of targeting the Muslim youth, the seminar decried the way an increasing number of innocent Muslim youths are arrested on the allegation of membership or role in the activities of the banned outfit of SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India).
“I was kidnapped and the cases, more than my age in number, were fabricated against me. They made me naked, poured petrol in my private parts, gave electric shocks, removed my nails and did a lot more shameful and painful acts which I can’t narrate here,” Amir said. He criticised Muslim groups for not coming to his rescue and believing the police version and media reports against him.
The document noted that a wave of arrest of the Muslim youths began since 1997 for the alleged offences of communal hatred, sedition and waging war against the state. In late 1990s and early 2000, these cases were mainly registered under sections 153 A and 153 B of IPC.
Three hundred cases listed by the organisation as an illustration of the arrests for what it claimed were “doubtful crimes”, are from across the country - Indore, Ujjain, Nagda and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, in Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, and Bihar. The trend started in 1997 in Khajrana in Madhya Pradesh and has travelled to deep south in Kerala, said the speakers.
