Protest against Delhi ATS' arrest of innocents

Over 100 members of the Jamia Teachers' Solidarity Group staged a protest in front of the Special Cell of the Anti-Terrorist Squad of the Delhi Police on Wednesday morning, demanding action against police officers who had arrested two innocent Kashmiri youths on terror charges in 2006.
 
The Central Bureau of Investigation, which probed the case, had found both Irshad Ali and Mohammed Moarif Qamar innocent. 

Qamar and Ali, both from Kashmir, were arrested by the police from Mukarba Chowk on G T Karnal Road in north Delhi in February 2006.

The Special Cell claimed that the two young men had been arrested while alighting from a Jammu & Kashmir Roadways bus in February 2006. The Delhi ATS officials alleged that the duo, which was carrying two pistols and two kgs of RDX, were militants belonging to the Al Badr outfit.

In its report to the Sessions Court, the CBI disclosed that Ali and Qamar were informers of the Intelligence Bureau. 

The protestors alleged that the 'Al Badar operation' of the Special Cell was very similar  to the recent Batla House encounter.
 
Though arms have been seized in both the operations, no seizure list was made or verified in either case, claimed the protestors. This only adds to the doubts raised about the Batla House encounter, they said.
 
Speakers at the protest raised questions about the veracity of the Special Cell's claims regarding the Batla House 'encounter'. They also expressed their outrage at the fact that those who indulge in fabricating evidence to implicate innocents are glorified and rewarded, but those who raise questions and wish to exercise their democratic right to protest are harassed by the police.
 
Incidentally, the CBI has demanded action against sub inspector Ravinder Tyagi, who won a President's Medal for Gallantry on Republic Day.

The protestors alleged that Tyagi was instrumental in fabricating evidence against Mohammed Arif Qamar and Irshad Ali. He was also part of the police team that was involved in the Jamia Nagar encounter, in which two suspected terrorists and a police officer were killed.

In its closure report, the CBI has said that action must be taken against Tyagi. The case in this regard is coming up for hearing on November 27.