Mohammad Faisal, a Rajasthan-based lawyer has claimed that he was wrongly picked by the SOG team of Uttar Pradesh Police from inside the Kairana Court. He said that he was given electric shocks four to five times and subjected to physical torture in custody.
Mohammad Faisal, a Rajasthan based lawyer, has accused the Uttar Pradesh Police of wrongful arrest during the ongoing anti-CAA protests in the state.
Faisal, a lawyer based out of Kota district in Rajasthan, has claimed that he had visited Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli to help people involved in anti-CAA protests, who were falsely implicated by the UP Police.
He claimed that he was wrongly picked by the SOG team of Uttar Pradesh Police from inside the Kairana Court in UP’s Shamli. He alleged that he was arrested by the UP Police despite telling them that he was a lawyer from Rajasthan who was there to help people by providing them legal aid.
While speaking to India Today TV, Faisal claimed that he was given electric shocks four to five times and subjected to physical torture by the UP Police’s SOG in custody.
He has also claimed that the police levelled “false charges” of spreading violence and also that he was involved in anti-CAA protests when he was not.
“When I was providing legal aid to people inside Kairana Court, Shamli, I had gone for legalese, then at five in the evening, the SOG team arrived and was about to take me by arresting me. I opposed them. I told them that I am an advocate and a local advocate who was also there with me, he also opposed it,” Faisal said.
“After that, I was taken to Kairana station, then I showed them my Rajasthan Bar Council ID. The police told me my ID is fake. They claimed I am from West Bengal and have come here to spread violence,” he added.
Faisal alleged, “I was physically assaulted, mentally tortured, filthy abuses were hurled. After that, the SOG team gave me electric shocks as well … I was given electric shocks four to five times … On asking their name, I was slapped. After that, I was put inside the lock-up at 11 in the night and a fraudulent FIR based on protest incident of December 20 was filed against me. On the basis of an FIR on December 22, I was arrested and on the 24th, I was produced in the Court, from where I was sent to judicial custody,” Mohammad Faisal told India Today TV.
The Kota lawyer also said that the UP Police had claimed that he was a member of the Popular Front of India (PFI) and was involved in distributing pamphlets for them.
Faisal claimed that he has never had any association with the PFI and that he was associated with National Confederation Of Human Rights Organizations (NCHRO) which was involved in providing legal aid. He was produced before the court in Kairana and from there, he was sent to jail where he had to spend 13 to 14 days in judicial custody.
“I had gone to UP on the behest of NCHRO to provide legal aid to people. From Delhi NCHRO office, we were told that some people were illegally arrested in Shamli. I had gone there to find facts and to help people when this incident occurred with me … From December 24 to January 7, we were in jail, in total for 13 to 14 days, we had to stay in judicial custody.”, Faisal said.
Faisal has said that he will be filing a case against the UP Police who he accused of defaming him.
“Yes, a case of spreading violence has been filed against me over there and as far as the question of me filing a case is concerned, then whatever case can be made against the UP Police, whether it is of defamation or is of persecution against them, I will file it. I am not a member of the PFI. I am a member of NCHRO but the allegation that they have levelled against me is that I was distributing pamphlets of PFI.”, Faisal said.
This story first appeared in www.indiatoday.in on January 14, 2020… more…