‘I don’t know why I was released while others were held’: SDPI member after raids on PFI

New Delhi: At around 2

New Delhi: At around 2.30am on Tuesday, a team of 10-15 police officers, some in uniform and others in plain clothes,knocked on the door of Shaheen Bagh resident, Shaheen Kausar.

New Delhi: A PFI member being produced in a Delhi court earlier this week. (PTI)

Outside the house there were over two dozen police personnel standing guard and there was bus parked on the road below, with police personnel inside, said Kausar who was among 32 members of the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its political wing, Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI).

Kausar who is vice-president of SDPI’s Delhi unit was later released during the day, besides three others.

“I do not know why I was released while others were arrested. Around 2.30pm, police along with officials of NIA came home and said that was I had to accompany them to the Shaheen Bagh police station. I asked for a warrant but they did not show me one. They were polite but insistent that I accompany them. I contacted the station house officer (SHO) of the police station, who confirmed that I had to be there,” she said after her release on Tuesday afternoon.

At around same time, another team of police and NIA officials had gone to the homes of SDPI Delhi president, IA Khan and treasurer, Farid in Nizamuddin. Other teams were conducting similar raids at the homes of PFI members in Prem Nagar (Rohini), Seelampur and other parts of the city. One team had broken into the SDPI’s office in Nizamuddin West and were seizing the hard disk inside the office, pen drive

Kausar said that while she was being taken to the Shaheen Bagh police station, one of the NIA officers received a call on his cell phone after which he told the driver to take the car to Lajpat Nagar police station.

“I saw many other people who had been detained. I was kept in a room and provided water but they did not tell me why they had brought me there. I said I wanted to speak to my lawyer but the women officer did not let me speak to anyone. Around 7 in the morning, they brought me to the Shaheen Bagh police station and kept me there until late afternoon after which I was released,” Kausar said.

While Kausar was home by Tuesday evening and was receiving multiple calls from different lawyers enquiring about the status of other arrested people, one among them was Imrana Parveen, wife of Farid.

“I last saw my husband around 2.45am on Tuesday when police took him away. My husband asked them why he was being arrested. The officers said that they had to question him and would release him shortly. He was taken to the Nizamuddin police station where he spent the night,” she said.

Parveen said that while her husband works for the party and runs a book shop. She added that they were not involved in any crime. “He does not have a single criminal case against him. I wasn’t allowed to talk to him at the court in Lajpat Nagar during the day. The police officer asked me to come after three days when he will be produced in the court again,” she added.

A Delhi Police officer said that the group’s members were put under preventive arrest because there was an imminent threat of them disrupting law and order. After the government’s crackdown against PFI on Thursday, states such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu have reported violence by PFI’s supporters. SDPI had also planned a protest at Jantar Mantar on September 26, but Delhi police did not give them permission citing law and order arrangements.