Addressing a press conference called to demand an immediate release of the ailing student activist on medical grounds, both of them shared their ordeal in the wake of his fast deteriorating medical condition inside the jail.
Ahmed Kasim | Clarion India
NEW DELHI — “How would you feel, as a mother, when your child goes out of your sight for two hours? Imagine the pain and the anxiety I am experiencing as a mother who has not seen her son for two years.”
These are the words of Raabiya, mother of Atiq-ur-Rehman, a student activist who is languishing in jail for the past two years despite having serious health issues. She was recounting her woes during a press conference at the Press Club of India in New Delhi on Saturday.
The press conference was called to demand an immediate release Atiq-ur-Rehman on medical grounds. He is under detention ever since he, along with Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan, Jamia Millia Islamia student Masood Ahmad and taxi driver Mohammad Alam, arrested in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh on 5 October 2020. They were on their way to Hathras to meet the family of a Dalit woman who was raped and murdered by a group of men from the dominant Hindu caste.
The press gallery plunged into a somber mode when Raabiya broke down while making an impassioned appeal to the authorities to render a favour on a poor mother by releasing her ailing son. She pleaded with everyone to help her and her family to get him released.
Besides his ailing mother, Atiq’s wife, Sanjida Rehman, Delhi University professor and rights activist Nandita Narain, and Campus Front of India Jamia Millia Islamia unit leaders Fouzia and Zaki Hamdan also addressed the press conference.
Recounting the ordeal of his family in the wake of Atiq’s deteriorating health inside prison, his wife Sanjida said, “We got a call on 29th August informing us that his (Atiq’s) medical condition is getting worse and asking us to come to see him in Lucknow… Only after reaching Lucknow we could be able to ascertain how bad his condition is.”
“He can’t make sense of anything. He was lying as if he was dead. Tell me what could be more saddening than seeing your loved one lying lifeless in front of you as a dead,” she asked amid sobs.
She said how much his children are missing him. They keep asking her whether their father would come back to his former self. “They ask me will he be able to walk again as he did before? Will he be able to play with us as he used to? Will he take us out as he used to? Tell me, what should I tell them?” Atiq’s wife asked in an emotionally charged voice.
Both the wife and the mother of Atiq broke down intermittently while speaking to the media.
Atiq along with his fellow travellers were charged with sedition, ‘promoting enmity between groups’, ‘outraging religious feelings’ and ‘criminal conspiracy’ under the Indian Penal Code and ‘raising funds for terrorist act’, and ‘conspiring to commit a terrorist act’ under the UAPA by the Uttar Pradesh Police. The charges are so stringent that it’s difficult to convince the courts to release him. now that Atiq is facing threat to his life he should be release on medical grounds.
In November 2021, Atiq was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi for an open-heart surgery after his family filed a writ petition in the Allahabad High Court.
Since March 2022, he has been hospitalised multiple times. His medical documents state in addition to an existing heart ailment, he has now developed a neurological disease. The left side of his body has been paralysed and he suffers from memory loss.
Sanjida Rehman told Media that Atiq’s left side is completely paralysed and he is no longer able to recognise anyone. “He didn’t even recognise his sons on the video call. My sons keep asking if he’ll ever recognise them again,” she said.
Atiq-ur-Rehman was a PhD student at Meerut’s Chaudhary Charan Singh University and also the national office bearer of Campus Front of India, a student movement. He was also active during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests.
Responding to the continuing imprisonment of Atiq under the draconian UAPA solely for peacefully exercising his human rights and despite his deteriorating health condition, Amnesty International India on 7 September said Atiq’s arbitrary detention must end.
“It is a travesty for the Indian authorities to keep Atiqur Rehman in detention for almost two years on bogus charges solely for peacefully exercising his human rights. It seems the authorities are on a vindictive quest to further crush him by making his life unbearable, including by denying and delaying his medical treatment. Atiq should not have been detained in the first place. His arbitrary detention must end,” said Aakar Patel, chair of the board for Amnesty International India.
Patel said: “Rehman must be released immediately and all politically motivated charges against him dropped. Pending his release, the Indian authorities must ensure that his detention conditions are improved in line with international standards and that he has immediate and regular access to his family and any healthcare he may require. Subjecting Rehman to inhumane conditions and failing to provide adequate medical treatment is a human rights violation.”
