HOME COMPLAINTS GALLERY CONTACT US National Human Rights Commission New Delhi, India NHRC issues notices to MHA and Delhi Police on report of wrongful confinement of a youth in jail for 14 years (10.03.2014) New Delhi: 10th March, 2014 The National Human Rights Commission has taken suo motu cognizance of a distressing media report carrying the story of Mohammad Amir who was released after 14 year long incarceration in jail, destroying his youth due to wrongful arrest on the 27th February,1998, from Old Delhi as an alleged terrorist when he had just turned 18. While Amir remained confined to a solitary high security cell in Delhis Tihar Jail, he had little idea that his father had passed away in penury and his mother got paralysis suffering a brain haemorrhage and losing speech amidst a social boycott. The Commission has observed that the issue raises serious questions on the functioning of the police and if true, the contents of the press report amount to grave violation of human rights of the victim Amir who was implicated in false cases. Mr. Justice D. Murugesan, Member, NHRC in the notices issued to the Secretary, Union Ministry of Home Affairs and Delhi Police Commissioner, under case no 1361/30/9/2014, has asked them to submit detailed reports in the matter within four weeks. Further, the Delhi Police Commissioner has been directed to submit entire record of the 12 cases filed against Amir along with his report. According to the media report, Amir left his small home near Azad Market in Old Delhi for Pakistan on the 12th December, 1997 from to visit his sister who was married there and returned on the 13th February, 1998. A fortnight later, he was arrested on the charges of executing the bomb blasts subsequent to his training in Pakistan. The last of the bomb blast was in October, 1997 i.e. two months before he went on his first and last trip to Pakistan. Amir, with the charges of murder, terrorism and waging war against the nation, was named the main accused in 20 low intensity bomb blasts executed between December 1996 and October 1997 in Delhi, Rohtak, Sonepat and Ghaziabad. Five of these explosions had occurred during a single evening in places as wide apart as Sadar Bazar in Delhi and Ghaziabad, many miles away. The charge sheet filed in April 1998 said that Amir had been trained in Pakistan by the dreaded Abdul Karim Tunda gang. It also mentioned that Amir and co-accused Shakeel collaborated to make bombs out of a factory rented by Shakeel in Pilakhua in Ghaziabad. However, Shakeel was discharged before the start of hearing in ten cases but in 2009 he was found hanging from the ceiling of his barrack in Dasna Jail. The then Superintendent of Dasna Jail, V K Singh was charged with Shakeels murder. Amir was acquitted in 18 of the 20 terror cases for lack of evidence against him as the prosecution failed to produce a single witness in any of the cases connecting him to the blasts. The police produced no witness to the arrest and the public witnesses allegedly present during the Pilakhua raid flatly refused to support the prosecution during the trial. Chandrabhan, the prosecutions main witness on whose evidence the entire terror case rested stated that he had never seen Amir and he was taken to the Chankya Puri Police Station where he was made to sign on blank papers. Reportedly, the trial court had acquitted him in 17 cases on the ground that there is absolutely no incriminating evidence against the accused. The Delhi High Court in one of the three cases that went into appeal observed the prosecution has miserably failed to adduce any evidence to connect the accused appellant with the charges framed, much less prove them. He was released in January 2012. Note: For further details kindly contact National Human Rights Commission, Manav Adhikar Bhawan Block-C, GPO Complex, INA, New Delhi - 110023 Tel.No. 24651330 Fax No. 24651329 E-Mail: covdnhrc[at]nic[dot]in, ionhrc[at]nic[dot]in नोट: अन्य जानकारी हेतु कृपया संपर्क करे राष्ट्रीय मानव अधिकार आयोग, मानव अधिकार भवन, ब्लॉक-सी, जी.पी.ओ. कम्प्लेक्स, आई.एन.ए., नई दिल्ली - 110023, फोन नं. 24651330 फैक्स नं. 24651329 ई-मेल : covdnhrc[at]nic[dot]in, ionhrc[at]nic[dot]in Disclaimer: Neither NHRC nor NIC is responsible for any inadvertent error that may have crept in the Information being published on NET. अस्वीकरण : नेट पर प्रकाशित सूचना में, अनजाने में हुई किसी भी गलती के लिए न तो एन.एच.आर.सी. न ही एन.आई.सी. जिम्मेदार है।
Posted on: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 12:25:34 +0000