Mumbai: At around 5 am on Wednesday (October 11), when Abdul Wahid Shaikh – a human rights defender and school teacher – was still asleep, a battery of police – some in the Mumbai police uniform and a few in civil clothes –reached his residence. They identified themselves as police and wanted Shaikh to open the door. Shaikh, who has already spent nine years in jail for his alleged link in the July 11, 2006 serial train blast case, only to be later acquitted by the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court in 2015, is too familiar with what a “police search” entails. He asked for a warrant before opening the door. The police refused.
Shaikh continued to ask the gathered police for their identity for the next few hours. “They first told me they are from Mumbai police, later claimed to be from the Delhi police. One of them shouted that they are from the UP police. I kept telling them I am willing to cooperate and you can enter my house, provided you keep this transparent. I asked them to serve a proper legal notice and carry out the search,” Shaikh said, over a phone call, even as he was locked inside the house with his wife and children.
Finally, around 10 am, when his lawyer Ibrahim Harbat reached his residence, the police said that they were in fact from the National Investigation Agency and were there for a raid in connection with a case against the recently banned Popular Front of India (PFI). Harbat demanded a search warrant and one of them handed over a piece of paper with handwritten orders. When Harbat refused to accept the notice, they finally sent an NIA official back to their office to get a signed copy of the warrant.
Six hours later, at 11 am, the raid finally began. Shaikh’s children were allowed to step out of the house around 1 pm.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here