Hyderabad, June 29: Strange are the ways of our men in uniform. Sometimes they deserve wholesome praise and other times they are derided by all and sundry but they are feared all the time.
They are feared because they know that their misdemeanours rarely, if ever, are punished.
On Monday, a woman, Shahjahan Begum and her 17-year-old son Mohammed Amir appeared before the State Human Rights Commission seeking relief from harassment by Task Force officials.
Trouble began for the family on June 22 when Amir, a second year Intermediate student from Chaitanya College, Mehdipatnam, was picked up by alleged Task Force sleuths.
He says, “I was playing cricket at MJ Nagar, when three to four men in civil dress took me to Humayunnagar Police Station,”
They inquired from Amir about the whereabouts of his father. Amir’s father had deserted his family more than a decade ago. When Amir pleaded his ignorance, the Task Force sleuths allegedly abused him in foul language and threatened to book him under various acts, including arms Act.
Meanwhile, worried about the disappearance of her son, Shahjahan Begum first tired to file a complaint with the Humayun Nagar police. They told her to approach the Asifnagar police, claims Shahjahan Begum.
When she approached the Asifnagar police station, she was asked to approach the Humayun Nagar police.
She was later told that the boy had been picked by Task Force sleuths.
Unable to bear the agony anymore Shahjahan Begum filed a petition with the SHRC on June 25. It was the same day when Amir was let off in front of the Chacha Nehru Park at Masab Tank.
The ordeal did not end there. After the boy was let off, Shahjahan Begum got a call allegedly from the Task Force office, threatening her to withdraw the petition filed before the SHRC. The phone call came from the number 040-27854779 on June 26, from a person identifying himself as Mr Naidu, she says.
Shahjahan Begum further alleged that her family members were being followed by the Task Force sleuths and her daughter getting calls from anonymous numbers.
On Monday, Shahjahan Begum once more approached the SHRC, this time with the hope that her troubles may be over soon.
——–INN