MUZAFFARNAGAR: Four persons walk out of Muzaffarnagar jail ten days after being arrested because the Uttar Pradesh police failed to link them with the violence, reported The Indian Express.
The four wrongfully accused persons identified as Ateeq Ahmed (24), Mohd Khalid (53), Shoaib Khalid (26) and a government office clerk, were in police custody for the last ten days for suspected involvement in the December 20 violence that broke out during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Lack of evidence
The police admitted they couldn’t find any proof against them and therefore released them as per Section 169 of the CrPC.
Muzaffarnagar City Superintendent of Police Satpal Antil told the paper, “We are undertaking a very fair investigation and if we find that somebody was not part of rioting or stone-pelting, accordingly we are taking action.”
Men narrated their ordeal
The released men narrated their ordeal with the paper.
One of the four who did not wish to be named, alleged that, at around 10.30 pm, a group of around 60 policemen and 50-odd locals barged into his house and started breaking everything. He was repeatedly hit on the legs and shoulders with lathis.
“Both me and my son were picked up and thrown in the police van and taken to the thana. Our phones were taken away. In the barracks, there were at least 100 people,” he said.
Inhumane behaviour
He also alleged that the police refused to give them water in custody. “The police behaviour was most inhuman. We weren’t given food or water. When I asked for water, they told me to drink my own urine,” he said.
He also said that they were treated well inside the jail and also got medicine for his wounds.
“I don’t know when he will be let out. If at all he will,” said the man whose son is still in jail.
At least 19 people have been killed so far after the violence broke out in several parts of Uttar Pradesh during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.