Dossiers of a ‘Very’ Special Cell

During the time when people are arrested in Kashmir, Karnataka, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and several other parts, the state comes out with its version of facts and evidences to establish the arrests. Several times a person is arrested in Delhi or Mumbai and media starts flashing the news “Mastermind held”. There are many occasions when numbers of “masterminds” are arrested for single blast!

On September 18, Framed, Damned, Acquitted: Dossiers of a ‘Very’ Special Cell – a report by Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association (JTSA) will be released here in Delhi. It is a comprehensive 175-page report on cases in which people, all Muslims, were arrested, by the Delhi Police’s Special Cell. The report exposes the cell which has framed people in fabricated cases with the help of concocted evidence which would later fall apart in the courts. Because, the report says, “they are backed not be evidence but by the belief that the court will be seduced by the hysteria of national security.”

“We document here 16 cases in which those accused of being operatives of various terrorist organizations (Al Badr, HUJI, Lashkar-e-Toiba) arrested in main 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,” says the JTSA, which has earlier released two reports, ‘Encounter’ at Batla House: Unanswered Questions (2009) and The Case that Never Was: The ‘SI MI ‘ Trial of Jaipur (2012).

This report is a revelation for how the “special cells” work and frame people in fake cases. There are 16 cases widely documented in the report but this is only a tip of a mountain. More such cases, without any doubt, might be lying in several other investigating agencies of India. The report has also focused on media trails in these cases- that how media reported such arrests. Presenting a person as guilty of something even before it could be proved in the court has been common in media, and often the stories published would be based on official inputs. The report exposes it all by quoting some of the media reports too.

The cases documented in the JTSA report:

[Year of Arrest]

1992         Tanveer Ahmed, Shakil Ahmed, Ishtiaq Akhtar Dar, Mohd Akhtar Dar and

others. Years in jail 10.

1996         Farooq Ahmed Khan, others. Years in jail 4.

1997         Mohd Amir Khan. Years in jail 14.

2002         Khongbantbum Brojen Singh. Years in jail 7.

2004         Mohd Iftekar Ahsan Malik, Maulana Dilawar Khan and others. Years in jail 6.

2004         Irshad Ahmed Malik. Years in jail 6.

2004         Ayaz Ahmed Shah. Years in jail 5.

2005         Saqib Rehman, Bashir Ahmed Shah, Nazir Ahmed Sofi and others. Years in jail 6.

2005         Khurshid Ahmad Bhatt. Years in jail 6.

2006         Salman Khurshid Kori. Years in jail 5.

2006         Maurif Qamar and Mohd Irshad Ali. Years in jail 5.

2006         Gulzar Ganai, Mohd Amin Hajam. Years in jail 3.

2006         Tariq Dar. 3 months in jail.

2006         Imran Ahmed. Years in jail 5.

2007         Mohd Mukhtar Ahmed Khan. Years in jail 5.

2008         Mohd Iqbal alias Abdur Rehman. Years in jail 3.