Concocted Stories: ‘How Delhi Police Ruined Lives of 16 Kashmiri Boys’

Sam’eer Muhammad

SRINAGAR: In the last three decades of conflict, thousands of Kashmiri youth have been tortured, framed and many have been executed. Around ten thousand others are missing and their heirs are remembering them on the 10th of every month here at Pratap Park.

Jamia Teachers Solidarity Association in Delhi has prepared a report– “Framed, Damned and Acquitted: Dossiers of a Very Special Cell”–that looks at some 16 cases of Kashmiri youth whose lives were ruined by Delhi Police’s Special Cell. Reports say that 16 cases in which those accused of being operatives of various terrorist organizations (Al Badr, HUJI, Lashkar-e-Toiba), arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police, were acquitted by the courts, not simply for want of evidence, but because the evidence was tampered with, and the police story was found to be unreliable and incredulous. The report also talks about the mode of such operations when conducted.

The report states that private vehicles were used in these operations – so their logs can never be verified to check if the operation did really take place. For those who say ‘there is no smoke without fire’, this case, which dates back to 1990, should serve as a grim eye opener.

2010_1029_cp_man_behindbars_600x300 — **Representational Pic**

The story of these seven Kashmiri boys Tanveer Ahmad, Shakil Ahmad, Ishtiaq Akhtar Dar, Akhtar Dar, Yusuf Lone, Abdul Rauf and Ghulam Muhammad who were arrested by Delhi Police and FIR Number 169/92 was registered in Police Station Lajpat Nagar, for carrying out a major terror strike in the national capital.

During the court proceedings, the prosecution held that the Special Cell of Delhi Police received information that some Kashmiri terrorists had sneaked into the capital with the intention to commit high profile terrorist attacks. It added that on April 29, 1992, Delhi police received specific information that Kashmiri terrorists had been spotted driving around in the red Maruti van in Central Market, Lajpat Nagar.

“A raiding party was immediately formed and dispatched. At about 9 pm, when the police party was near Shiv Mandir Marg, Lajpat Nagar II, close to the water supply office of Jal 9 10, they saw the said vehicle approaching them. They signaled it to stop. The driver initially slowed down but then raced and sped away.

After a chase, during which Inspector Lal Ram fired a shot in the air, the occupants, five in number, were overpowered and apprehended. The five were revealed to be Tanveer Ahmad, Shakil Ahmad, Ishtiaq Akhtar Dar, Akhtar Dar (the driver) and Yusuf Lone,” said the Prosecution. Police had claimed to have recovered from them six photographs of places like Red Fort, Delhi Gate, India Gate and other such places, explosive sticks wrapped in newspaper, one green colored cloth with Islamic writing; Rs 20,000 in cash and a diary, three detonators, battery cells, one metre of electric wire, photographs of important buildings, one booklet titled, “Cry for Freedom will not Stop” and much more.

However, all the accused over the years continued to maintain throughout the trial – in their cross examination as well in their statement under Section 313 CrPC – that they were picked up from their respective places on the 25th and 26th April 1992.After wasting their prime time of life in jails, the court acquitted all the accused and noted that the prosecution story stood in cloud of doubt.