Civic administration is 'unnecessarily harassing' and 'deliberately dragging his name' in the garb of doing an ‘investigation’', alleges Nasir Ahmad, 63.
EXCLUSIVE
Ghazala Ahmad | Clarion India
IT took months for Nasir Ahmad (63), a retired police officer and his family to limp back to a normal life after he survived an anti-Muslim pogrom in Khargone, Madhya Pradesh after celebratory Ram Navami processions turned violent and fatal for many in April this year.
Even after eight months after the incident, his struggle for justice has not come to an end. He claims that civic administration is ‘unnecessarily harassing’ and ‘deliberately dragging his name’ in the garb of doing an ‘investigation’’.
The anticipatory bail plea pushed by Nasir Ahmed has been rejected by a local court on November 30, 2022 in response to an FIR filed by his neighbour, Piyush Vasare, who, along with others, allegedly set Nasir’s house and four vehicles on fire during the Ram Navami violence on April 10, 2022.
Perpetrators roaming freely
Speaking to Clarion India, over phone, he said, “It’s been months of running from pillar to post, but to no avail. We are told that the police are doing an investigation. The perpetrators are roaming freely and the police are busy framing people who are actually victims of the violence”.
Nasir is a resident of Tavdi Mohalla in Khargone, a locality near Talab Chowk where the anti-Muslim violence broke out on April 10 this year.
He alleged that on the day of the violence, his neighbour, Piyush Vasare, along with his associates, forcefully barged into his house after breaking the main entrance and set four parked bikes and the front side of the house on fire. He has not been arrested as yet and the investigation is being deliberately stretched by the authorities.
The Day of Violence
Recalling the day of violence, he said, “We somehow managed to save our lives; it still sends tremors down our spine that people who we lived among all our lives are our enemies.”
Soon after the violence, he submitted the complaint against Vasare, but it was registered after three days on April 15.
On the contrary, he was booked by the Khargone Police under several sections of IPC including rioting on a complaint filed by Vasare on the same day of violence.
Since then, the police investigation is in the process, but no note has been taken by them on the FIR filed by Nasir.
Delayed Investigation/Police Inaction
After two months of police inaction on his complaint, on June 30, Nasir in a written complaint again approached the Khargone Police station, that he is being framed in a false case, it was he who got injured and incurred losses when rioters attacked his home.
Along with this, he filed a recovery suit of around 2 lakhs before the court, claiming the losses he incurred during the riot.
On November 22, 2022, Nasir, in an anticipatory bail plea, urged the court that his house and belongings were burnt and no action has been taken by the authorities so far.
The bail plea also stated, “The complainant is not at all associated with any kind of violence that happened on the day of violence and is ready to cooperate in any kind of investigation required by police authorities”.
The lower court rejected his anticipatory bail plea on November 30. (A copy of the same is in possession of Clarion India) Nasir Ahmed has retired from the position of Assistant Sub Inspector and his elder brother Basheer Ahmed has also retired as a head constable from the same police department, but the police’s delayed response despite his repeated applications and pleas has left him and his family in dismay.
He said, “I have served the police department all my life, but now the institution of justice is only an institution, but I still have hope.”
Nasir now looks forward to filing another bail plea in an Upper Court with the hope to get justice.