Anti-CAA violence: Activists fear informers may be settling personal scores, sending innocents to jail

Politicians and social activists have voiced the fear that many innocents might have been implicated in cases of anti-CAA violence due to deliberate misinformation

Politicians and social activists have voiced the fear that many innocents might have been implicated in cases of anti-CAA violence due to deliberate misinformation provided to the police by people looking at settling personal scores.

HT Image

They said that although the police used various methods, including video footage and photographs, to identify rioters after incidents of violence, their most trusted and traditional method was the use of informers. The activists and leaders raised the apprehension that many informers might have used the violent protests against the amended citizenship law as an ‘opportunity’ to settle personal disputes.

One of these leaders, Imran Masood of Congress Party, met ADG (Meerut zone) Prashant Kumar on Monday and raised the issue, terming it “very dangerous”. He urged Kumar to ensure genuine verification of the charges levelled against people before initiating action against them. He cited the example of notices being served to dead persons in a few places and claimed that this happened as the informers provided wrong inputs, which were accepted by the police without proper verification.

“In Muzaffarnagar, 18 people were identified who were booked for no fault of theirs. Later, eight were released under section 169 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which allows an accused to be released in the want of evidence against him or her. Such cases (of innocents being booked) can’t be denied in Meerut, Saharanpur and other violence-affected areas too. The ADG has assured me that no action will be initiated against any innocent,” Masood told media persons, later.

Meanwhile, nayab shahar qazi of Meerut, Zainur Rasheedin, who is also the city president of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (JUH), said that he had been approached by many persons from various violence-hit areas with CCTV footage and other evidences to show that they were nowhere near the protest spots but had still been booked. Rasheedin said he had even spoken to the officials concerned about this.

Advocate Munawwar Hussain, who is a part of a panel of lawyers set up by the JUH to fight case of those booked for anti-CAA violence and who were too poor to put up a legal defence, said, “Informers, sometimes, mislead the police and provide them false inputs to settle personal scores.” He cited the example of government employee Mohd Farooq and three members of a family who were booked in the aftermath of the December 20 anti-CAA violence in Meerut but were released later for want of evidence. “Similarly, four students of a ‘madarsa’ were booked but were later released by the court,” said Hussain.

Social activist Bilal Mehar,who lives in Bhoomia Ka Pul area of Meerut that was hit by violence, said, “A common complaint of people who were booked is that they were not even anywhere close to the violence-affected areas. People are scared because the police have lodged cases against over 5,000 unknown over 100 known people. The informers can point out any name and send anyone to jail,” said Mehar.

On the other hand, Satpal Antil, superintendent of police (Muzaffarnagar city), said that the police always did its verification work. “If no evidence is found against the accused, Section 169 of the CrPc is used to drop the charges against them. This is what the police did in Muzaffarnagar to ensure the release of those who were not found involved in violence,” he said.

To recall, during her recent visit to Muzaffarnagar, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi had raised the issue of minor students being sent to jail in connection with violent protests.