Anti-CAA, NRC Activist Zainab Siddiqui Case |UP Police Tortured a Minor Whole Night, Father is Still in Jail

Around 6:30 in the evening a dozen of policemen in civil dress suddenly appears and forcefully captured my father from the gate of our house when he was returning after offering the Namaz, said Zainab Siddiqui. 

Zainab Siddiqui is a Lucknow based journalist who is associated with the Video Volunteers and also works on Human Rights Issues with several other organizations. In the evening on 5th November, Lucknow police started enquiring about Zainab in her colony and the same day later in the evening policemen in civil dress abused and attacked family members of Zainab and forcefully detained her and father and minor brother without any warrant or citing any reason. 

Zainab in a phone call explained, that on Thursday, several policemen barged into her house and violently engaged with force. One of the policemen through away her younger sister and dragged her brother into the police car. 

Zainab’s brother Shad who is just 16 years old was then taken to the local police station where he was treated like a criminal. Shad on telephonic conversation explained that around 11 PM he was taken to the Sarojni Nagar police station where a dozen of policemen circled him brutally beat him with sticks. “All of them were beating me all over my body. One of the Constables was constantly making dirty and communal remarks. I was constantly abused and denied any food, said Shad.”

Shad is just a 16-year-old athletic boy who was tortured by the Uttar Pradesh police whole night. The police didn’t have any reason to hold him in custody. They did it unconstitutionally kept torturing a minor for around 20 hours. He was let go after the intervention made by lawyer Salman Ahmad and Sandeep Pandy. The police threatened Shad that if he dares to go for a medical check-up then this time he will be framed in wrong cases and again put behind the bars. 

Her 52-year-old father Mohammad Naeem Siddiqui is still in the custody of Anti-Terrorist Squad. Yesterday on 7th of November, police informed that an FIR has been registered for allegedly circulating WhatsApp texts asking people to observe special prayers in mosques across the country and raise black flags at their homes to protest against French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent statements on Islam.

Additional Director General (ADG-ATS) Dhruv Kant Thakur told The Indian Express that the ATS was just providing technical support to the police. “The Lucknow Police is registering an FIR against him for inciting people to protest against French President Emmanuel Macron and his statements. The accused runs an NGO, called Bhartiya Awami Morcha, and was sending WhatsApp texts on several numbers asking people to observe special prayers in all mosques on Friday and raise black flags in their houses and shops against the President and the madness of our government. In the texts, he was asking people to pray against the oppressors and the enemies of the faith, and urging them to destroy such forces,”

Zainab is a social activist, fiercely advocates exercising of constitutional rights. She also actively participated in Anti – CAA, NRC protest about which police enquired initially from her father. 

Zainab said her father was taken with force and without any warrant or notice despite repeatedly asked, she was not made informed. She also said the police didn’t tell her where they have taken or kept her father. It was today after more than 30 hours of illegal arrest police has given the reason and she was allowed to meet him.

After facing enormous pressure from the civil society, on Saturday, Lucknow police brought him to the magistrate and taken under judicial custody. 

Zainab told that her father was mentally and physically tortured. He was too verbally abused communal remarks were directed to him. The policemen also touched him inappropriately to embarrass and abuse him. He was too like Shad kept without food whole night.   

Uttar Pradesh police force is behaving no less than the street thugs under the Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath led BJP government. The entire police force working like Gunda’s bargaining in houses of social and political activist, detaining and questioning them illegally. The Yogi government has again erected hoardings with the names and photos of Anti- CAA protestors announcing a reward of five thousand for anyone who shares the addresses of the people in the hoarding. Doing this has compromised the security and lives at risk at the hand of miscreants 

Earlier in March similar kind of hoardings were erected about which Allahabad High Court directed Lucknow administration to remove name and shame hoardings. 

The government in the same month issued notice to 28 people whose faces featured in hoardings and sought payment of more than 63 lakh from them for allegedly damaging public property. 

Not alone this, the Yogi government in September announced the creation of a special force empowered to search a premise or arrest any person without any warrants or court orders. Imagine which police force has a history of harassing civilians, arresting Journalists, capturing social activists without warrants and conducting allegedly fake encounters is granted with such unaccountable power. 

As per the data shared by the Uttar Pradesh Police, under the Yogi Government police has done 5,178 encounters till December 2019. 

It is undoubtedly, the Uttar Pradesh government is functioning like a rowdy under the CM Aditynath who himself runs a militant Hindutva outfit, Hindu Yuva Vahini which has a record of spreading hatred and inciting communal violence. The Chief Minister himself has a history of making menacing comments and supervised the ‘Love Jihad’ campaign, an imaginary conspiracy theory to attack Muslims. And now since the Anti CAA NRC protest yogi government constantly harassing the social activists across the state.  

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