On September 7, trouble erupted in Jaipur Central Jail as Hindu prisoners objected to Muslim inmates saying namaz. According to the police, the row was soon controlled by the use of “light force”. The relatives of Muslim prisoners tell a different story. On September 9, two days after the row, eight Muslim undertrial prisoners were beaten for hours by the jail authorities, they allege.
Zubair Khan, one of the inmates, gave his account to his nephew, 22-year-old Nomaan Khan, who visited the jail on September 14. “There were inmates who had a problem with the fajr namaz [early morning prayers], where some ayats [Quranic verses] have to be recited,” said Nomaan Khan. “This led to a fight between inmates on September 7. Then on September 9, instead of opening the lock up to allow inmates to stroll around in the open compound between 3 pm to 5 pm, the eight men were taken to an area where jail officials and some other prisoners beat them up for three to four hours.”
All eight prisoners who were allegedly assaulted are accused of planning to make bombs. Arrested from Rajasthan’s Chittorgarh district, most have been in jail since March. Seven of the eight prisoners are from Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh. The eighth prisoner is from Pune.
As Nomaan Khan got ready to leave after the 15-minute meeting on September 14, he noticed his uncle had difficulty walking. Worried, he approached the families of the other inmates who were allegedly beaten up and got in touch with lawyers.
They moved a Jaipur sessions court on September 15, saying the lives of the eight prisoners were under threat and asking for them to be given medical examinations.
When the police conducted these medical examinations, it was found that all the eight men had injuries. However, their lawyer, Minaj-ul Haq, said that the most severe injuries would not have shown up in the examination. “What is the point of doing a medical six to seven days later?” he asked.
The same day that the plea was heard, the police registered a first information report to investigate the incident. However, it does not mention that police officers were allegedly involved in the claimed assault on the prisoners.
Relatives of the prisoners demand action against the police officials involved in the alleged beating. “See, we are used to being called terrorists in jails or told to go to Pakistan,” said Shahid Khan, the relative of 34-year-old Aamin Patel, one of the eight prisoners. But the events of September 9 put the lives of the prisoners at risk, he said. Police officials did not just use “light force”, he claimed.
According to their families, the eight prisoners have been falsely implicated in the bomb-making case – but this is a separate matter. “The issue here is about the way they are being treated inside the jail,” said Irfan Khan, whose brother, Imran Khan, was also injured on September 9. “Even prisoners have rights in a democracy. They are under trial, not convicted.”
‘Threat to life’
The eight injured men are 42-year-old Zubair Khan, 38-Mazhar Khan, 40-year-old Imran Khan, 26-year-old Altamat Khan, 34-year-old Saifullah Khan, 34-year-old Aamin Patel, 33-year-old Aamin Khan and 40-year-old Akif Nachan.
All had asked to meet their families on September 14. Only two were allowed to do so – Zubair Khan and Saifullah Khan. Zubair Khan’s nephew, Nomaan Khan, who visited the prison, claimed the others were not allowed meetings as they had suffered more serious injuries. “They [the authorities] were trying to hide the information,” he said.
The remaining families, who had been waiting outside the Jaipur jail for days, got fragments of information from inmates who walked out after being granted bail, many of them non-Muslims.
“They said it was not some fight but about namaz, Muslims were targeted by the staff,” Irfan Khan said.
The families of the eight men have written letters giving details of the incident to the Rajasthan Minorities Commission and the state director general of police. The authorities met the families and assured them action would be taken, some relatives said.
This story was originally published in scroll.in. Read the full story here