Patna: “Police used to give me electric shots and after making me nude they used to hit me on the face and other parts of the body and also use foul language for my mother and sisters. Besides, twice they took me to deserted places with my face covered for encounter and there they asked me to ‘run’ so that they could shoot me dead. But I did not do that and always replied them that ‘I am here, you can fire at me but I would never run away’ said Belal Kagzi, a victim of police torture.
Bilal Kagzi is a lawyer by profession and Human Rights defender from Surat, Gujarat. He became easy prey of Gujarat and Mumbai police who applied all methods to make him a terrorist and anti-national. He is making all efforts to defend himself but the shadow of police haunt does not seem to free him.
“On 8, August 2008 I was at home which is located in a small village of Surat district in Gujarat when I was informed that some officers came from Mumbai and wanted to meet me. When I reached them I came to know that they were Mumbai Crime Branch officers. They arrested me in fake extortion case and took me to Mumbai” said Bilal.
“After all kinds of investigation they did not find any evidence against me but they did not give me clean chit in the case and I was remained in custody. Then they started new drama with producing me before media as key suspect in Ahmedabad and Surat serial blasts. I was arrested from my village but media propagated that I was nabbed in Mumbai” he said.
“During interrogation I was given third degree torture. I underwent through several tests such as Lie detector, Norco Analyses and Brain Mapping but they failed to prove me involved in the blasts” he added.
“Even then they did not release me and I was given in custody of Pune branch of Maharashtra ATS. They branded me as member of banned organization SIMI. Despite the fact that during the investigation I was unable to explain the full-form of SIMI, I was charged that I had jihadi literature in Urdu and had been circulating it among people while I do not know Urdu and Arabic at all” he said.
About the motive of his arrest he said: “I became the eyesore of Intelligence Bureau (IB) since 2005 when I started working as human rights defender along with other colleagues. But as I was a Muslim and was actively raising voice for our rights, it was easy for them to target me” he claimed.
Bilal Kagzi
“After spending 110 days in the jail, I was released on bail in both cases. In extortion case, there is no evidence against me and even my name is not in FIR but they included my name in charge sheet while in SIMI case, police could not file charge sheet till the date though two years have passed.
He said that police witch hunt continues and he may be put behind the bar any time. “Not only my image in the society has been wronged, my right to live peacefully has been snatched. Today, I fear to go out of home because I do not know when I would be arrested again. After release, I went Pune two times for my case and again I was investigated 2-3 hours then I stopped visiting Pune since last two years. Last month I was introduced to Ahmedabad ATS by Surat Police since then I am afraid that I may be implicated in any big case” he expressed.
He demanded that there must be fair investigation in every case and if anyone is arrested and then no evidence is found against him he must be given clean chit publicly as his arrest was shown.“The best compensation is that we should be given respect as others and we should be trusted that we are also true Indian citizens and not terrorists” he added.
“The RSS lobby is behind the arrest of innocent Muslims in last few years. They are present in all political parties, police and even judiciary. Their aim is to target Muslims at every level. Therefore, the lives of Muslims youths who are well educated are being ruined” he said.
“The secular minded people should come forward to defeat such lobby and pressurize police to carry out fair investigation in the case. Media also must be careful not to tag Muslim youths without any evidence as terrorist” he urged.
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