A PFI Press Release |
| Blog | Posted By: hindtodaynews on:6/20/2012 12:33:56 PM |
New Delhi: The meeting of the National Executive Council of the Popular Front of India strongly deplored the dastardly murder of Mohammad Qateel Siddiqui in Pune Yerwada jail. The meeting also demanded the Central Government agencies to clear the mystery behind the arrest and subsequent disappearance of Fasih Mahmood jointly by Indian and Saudi Arabian agencies.
Arrested by Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad on his alleged involvement in many blast cases, Qateel was strangled to death while locked up in maximum security cell. Such a crime could take place only with the connivance of the jail authorities, the police or intelligence elements who wanted to silence him. It is shocking that two hardened criminals could enter Qateel’s cell and kill him. Even days after his death, the Maharashtra government is yet to break their silence on the issue. It has been revealed that the police are yet to recover even the basic murder weapon used by the two accused. It is learnt that many a time in the past Qateel shared his apprehension with his family members that his life is under threat. Many Muslim under- trials have revealed that the harrowing experiences in jails where highly prejudiced jail authorities used hardened criminals to attack them under one pretext or other.
Popular Front of India called for a re-autopsy of Qateel by a team of doctors and order investigation of the murder by CBI and suspend all officers allegedly involved in the murder. The Front also demanded enquiry in to the jail conditions by a bipartisan team made up of jurists, police investigators and human rights activists and take emergent steps to give security to under- trials put behind bars as terrorists or extremists.
The custody and subsequent disappearance of Fasih Mahmood is the latest episode in the serial arrests of Muslim youths by implicating terror charges on them without convincing evidences. It is shocking that the Central and State investigating agencies are in no mood to stop harassing innocent Muslim youths. At the same time they are not daring to touch the hard-core Hindutva terrorists , in spite of clear evidences against them. Once arrested and jailed in a case , Muslim youths are again cooked up in more blast cases happened in different states denying them any chance of getting bail and any legal remedy.