Family members of Mustaqeem and Naushad addressing a press conference at Press Club, New Delhi
Our Correspondent / New Delhi
The family members of Mustaqeem and Naushad– the two poor men killed in an alleged encounter in Aligarh on 20 September have said that “it was nothing but a cold-blooded murder”. They demanded a fair probe into the whole episode by a sitting High Court judge and suspension of SSP (Aligarh) Ajay Sahani and Atrauli police in-charge Pravesh Rana.
Narrating the woes about the “encounter”, on Saturday at a press conference at Press Club of India here the mother of Mustaqeem said: “My children were killed in a brazen manner by the Uttar Pradesh Police. Our only crime is that we are poor…We have no one around to stand by. I want to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi for justice.”
The killing was shrouded in the mystery after the victims’ families vehemently contradicted the Police version point by point and claimed that the victims were picked up by the police four days before the “staged killing” – the local media houses were invited to cover the live encounter. While the video footage exposed glaring loopholes in the police theory, the latter continued to justify their action and alleged that Mustaqeem (21) and Naushad (17) were criminals who “killed two local priests and a couple.”
My son was just 17 year-old, how the police can dub him a hardcore criminal and a killer who had even not been an adult, asked Naushad’s mother.
“We are poor…illiterate. That’s why, the police take our thumb impression on one paper or the other. Our ration card, Aadhaar card and other documents were taken away by the police,” said Naushad’s mother. She said the police are at her house round the clock and do not allow anyone to meet us. “For two days we did not eat. Some neighbours came with food, but police did not allow them,” she added. She could not control her tear while narrating how police “dug graves” and threw bodies of Mustaqeem and Naushad without allowing us to perform last rites – including namaz (offer) and ablution.
“The police picked Mustaqeem and Naushad on 16 September afternoon. On 17th, the police informed the families that their men escaped from police custody. And on 20th, the family members were informed about the encounter killing,” said Nadeem Khan of the United Against Hate (UAH), which organized the press meet. “The police narration is nothing but a pack of lies,” said Khan, and claimed that he and his colleagues were intimidated during their visit to the families in Aligarh.
“The Bajrang Dal goons gheraoed the Atrauli (Aligarh) police station when the fact-finding team members were talking with police about the encounter.” Dozens of Hindutva activists, mostly believed to be members of Bajrang Dal workers, reached there with shouting slogans to “kill all those who are supporting terrorists,” said Khan. “We somehow managed to escape from there. Later, two members of our team were charged with abducting women members of Mustaqeem and Naushad,” he said.
There are a number of contradictions between post-martem report, police theory before media and the FIR, he said. He demanded to know the locus standi of the Bajrang Dal goons inside Atrauli police station. “It seems Bajrang Dal goons and ABVP members are the central reserve police who are called whenever the state police need them,” alleged Khan.
Former and current presidents of Aligarh Muslim University Students’ Union (AMUSU) Faizul Haque Haque and Mashkoor Usmani respectively were charged with abduction.