Reign of terror in Uttar Pradesh

TV channels in western Uttar Pradesh telecast the ‘live’ footage of an alleged police encounter. Policemen in plain clothes and in uniform were seen strolling around a field and taking positions behind trees. Viewers could hear some gunshots, but none of the policemen visible to them on screen were apparently shooting. A few cops were then seen casually approaching a house while the running commentary informed viewers that two dreaded criminals had just been gunned down by the police in Atrauli.

No motorcycle was seen in the footage, although the police claimed the ‘criminals’ had opened fire on them from the motorcycle. The families, once informed, wailed that the two young men were picked up by the police for questioning four days ago. Another fake encounter appeared to have snuffed out two more lives in Yogi Adityanath’s Uttar Pradesh.

There were other tell-tale signs. The footage was shot by high-resolution cameras and not on mobile cameras. Judging by the light, it was early in the morning and the policemen looked unusually relaxed. There was no sign of any anxiety or scramble. No motorcycle was visible nor was there any sign of the criminals. Even seasoned police officers were forced to concede on TV that it looked completely stage-managed.

Tellingly enough, the BJP spokesman Rakesh Tripathi on a TV channel defended the ‘live telecast’ of the encounter by citing the 26/11 attack on Mumbai in 2008 when TV channels aired live the encounter.

Stark poverty stalks the bare walls and empty nook and corner of this one-room home in Atrauli near Aligarh, where two mothers, one wife, and an old grandmother are crying non-stop.

There has been virtual police terror in the locality since September 16, 2018, when Naushad, 17, and Mustaqeem, 22, were picked up by the police from their homes when they were home for lunch in the afternoon. Along with them, young Salman and Nafees were picked, too.

While Mustaqeem’s wife, in ‘purdah’, sobbed incessantly, Shabana, his mother, and Shaheen, Naushad’s mother, are shocked and grief-stricken. They alleged that policemen posted outside their house are not allowing anyone to meet them, not even neighbours who are offering food to these poverty-stricken families mourning their dead sons. Later, they came and testified to the media at a press conference in Delhi on Saturday, September 29. They denied the police allegation that they were kidnapped by student leaders of AMU and declared that they came freely and willingly seeking justice for their dead sons.

Four days after the families claimed they were picked up, on September 20, Naushad and Mustaqeem were allegedly shot dead in Harduaganj police station area, near Aligarh.

On September 16, they were beaten up in full public glare in Atrauli and arrested. The entire locality, including women and young boys, testified to the fact that they were picked up and beaten up while being taken by the police. Later, according to the family, the cops came and collected their Aadhaar and other identity cards. But Aligarh police claimed that they were absconding.

Among the two survivors who were picked up from home, Nafees is mentally challenged, and Salman is in jail. Their families and locals claim that this is a clear case of a “fake encounter”. “Hindus and Muslims have lived here in perfect harmony. There is no doubt that grave injustice has been done,” say both Hindu and Muslim elders in the locality. “These boys are innocent.”

Salman used to work in a cloth shop, and Naushad and Mustaqeem were working in an embroidery workshop in the locality. “Salman used to come to our home with the work allocated to him. We can vouch for his innocence. He was a simple young boy, honest and diligent. He just can’t be a criminal. These are all fake charges against poor young boys,” said the women in the neighbourhood. “Yes, we have been terrorised by the police. We are afraid for our own children and relatives. And, yet, the truth must come out,” they declared in one voice.

Local youngsters in Atrauli corroborate what the women and others said. The family had been living in the locality for the past nine months and they knew all the young boys. “Nafees is mentally challenged,” they said. “The other three were also hard working young men, and we can vouch for their honesty. We saw them every day. Never in these nine months did the police ever visit their homes. So how come they became absconding criminals overnight,” they asked. “They were abjectly poor. The neighbours helped them. Why did the police kill them in cold-blood?”

The families also claimed that their young boys had no criminal past. “If they had been criminals, then how come we are so poor,” asked Shaheen. “Absurd cases are being put on them; they have never had even any remote connection with crime,” says Shabana, Mustaqeem’s mother.

Police now claim the two boys escaped from custody and were found riding a motorcycle on September 20 in Harduaganj and after an exchange of fire, they were shot dead. Locals claim there were torture marks on their bodies, including broken teeth, etc. The families too claimed that. Besides, activists argue, legal procedures were not followed when they were picked up, or, when the female members of their families were detained.

Earlier, in Safedarpur, at quite a distance from their homes, Sadhu Ramdas was murdered, according to locals. While the murder investigation is on, according to reports, no direct evidence has been found to link these young men to the murders. “The investigation is on,” said the SO of Atrauli police chowki, Pravesh Rana. He also claimed that the young boys and their families have a criminal history and “their DNA test” would prove that.

Raees, a local resident, says his brother Dr Yasin, was also picked up on September 16 at 8.45 pm. The SO of Atrauli police station asked him to come over, said Raees. Dr Yasin went to the police station on his bike and constable Raghuraj Singh accompanied him riding pillion on the same bike.

Raees went to the Kotwali to enquire about him when he did not return after an hour. The SO denied any knowledge of Dr Yasin’s whereabouts. According to Raees, after three days, he was informed that his brother was under judicial custody in Aligarh jail and has been booked in connection with the murder of Sadhu Ramdas of Safedarpur. Raees said that they also have a workshop and Dr Yasin called Mustaqeem about some work regarding clothes. “Perhaps because of that phone call he has been implicated,” Raees thinks aloud.

There are several questions stalking the ‘encounter’, which activists are alleging is clearly stage-managed against two poor Muslim young men, whose families are too helpless and terrorised to fight back.

How come they were ‘criminals’ and still working in embroidery workshops for ₹2,500 to ₹3,000, and were known to the entire neighbourhood as ‘innocent and hard-working Muslim boys with a daily routine’? How come they managed to escape from police custody, stole a motorcycle and fired on the police? What are the details of the stolen motorbike or the bullets they fired? Why were no proper legal procedure followed in their arrests or in the arrest of Dr Yasin? Why were their families kept in the dark?

Were the media informed when they escaped from police custody? The family alleges that they were shown no FIR report or post-mortem report. They were merely called to show them the dead bodies, which were buried near the ‘Numaish ground’ in Aligarh, without proper rituals. What evidence is there to prove that these boys were involved in the murder of Sadhu Ramdas? Were they history-sheeters? If yes, why are the details of their earlier crimes not being made public?

If the police fired in self-defence, how come they invited the media and it became a ‘live’ encounter? Were they aware in advance that the encounter was going to take place?

Allegations of ‘fake encounters’, many involving Muslims, Dalits and OBCs have abounded under Yogi’s rule.

The alleged cold-blooded murder of Apple executive Vivek Tewari in Lucknow by a trigger-happy police constable, and the manner in which his female colleague was reportedly kept in custody and made to sign a blank paper, is a pointer to a reign of terror and the complete breakdown of the law and order machinery in UP. The Aligarh encounters, and the questions they have raised, are yet again an indication, that the due process of law is under severe strain in UP, in what seems to be becoming a police state.