Rihai Manch chief was picked up from his residence in Lucknow's Aminabad area by the ATS on Sunday morning for his alleged association with the banned Popular Front of India

Ghazala Ahmad | Clarion India

NEW DELHI — After his detention and subsequent release following hours of sustained interrogation by the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) of Uttar Pradesh, Advocate Mohammad Shoaib, President and founder of Rihai Manch, said he was targeted with an expressed aim to silence his organisation in its avowed fight against oppression and exploitation.

Shoaib, a quintessential human rights defender, was picked up from his residence in Lucknow’s Aminabad area by the ATS on Sunday morning for his alleged association with the banned Popular Front of India (PFI). According to a letter from his wife, Malka Bi, Shoaib was taken away by a group of police personnel around 7.15 a.m., with no information provided about the reason for his arrest.

Shoaib is known for his work with marginalised communities, and Rihai Manch is an organisation that provides legal aid to those in need. In December 2019, Shoaib was arrested in connection with protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). However, he was later granted bail on January 15, 2020.

Talking to Clarion India over the phone, Shoaib said some police officers came to his residence in plain clothes and asked him to accompany them to the Aminabad police station.

Instead of taking him to the said police station, the policemen took him to the ATS headquarters and he was made to sit in a hall where some people were already present.

For about six hours, the ATS sleuths questioned him about Rihai Manch’s involvement in last year’s farmers’ protest and other social movements including the anti-airport movement in Azamgarh, cases of fake encounters, the Ghantaghar case, CAA and anti-National Register of Citizens (NRC) and protests.

“Under the guise of fighting terrorism, the ATS is targeting people who constantly raise questions and make the establishment accountable for their actions,” Shoaib told Clarion India.

“They kept asking me if I had any connections with the PFI, when I joined them to which I only said that the organisation I am associated with is Rihai Manch. But they were adamant in their claim that I was associated with the said outfit,” he said.

He accused additional SSP of the ATS of ridiculing Rihai Manch’s movement against the construction of an airport in Azamgarh. “The SSP teasingly asked me: ‘Will you be able to stop the construction of the airport in Azamgarh? Will your movement be able to do that?’ I said yes as the acquisition of the land proposed for the airport will leave hundreds of poor people, farmers and labourers homeless.”

Shoaib said he was asked why Muslims in the country were educationally backward. The ATS officers themselves gave the reasons saying it was because Muslims study in madrassas (Islamic seminaries).

His “arbitrary arrest,” Shoaib said, was a planned attack on defenders of human rights and all those fighting oppression and discrimination. “If you speak against injustice, if you are pro-people, you will be targeted,” he said.

His arrest, he said, was to show that no one will be spared if they go against the authoritarian regime. 

Rajeev Yadav, general secretary of the Rihai Manch, told Clarion India that the questions ATS raised during Shoaib’s interrogation suggest that they were tracking Shoaib’s every move and the activities of Rihai Manch.

“Surprisingly, they know about everything we do, right from Rihai Manch’s movements to the events we attend and what we share on our messaging platforms,” he said.

“This is a deliberate attack and serious but we are not going to stop our fight”, Yadav asserted.

ATS released Shoaib at about 10 p.m. and allowed him to return to his house. “The ATS officers asked my wife to sign on a document”, he said.

Despite his ordeal, 75-year-old Shoaib still holds hope in ‘the idea of India.’ 

“I will continue to raise my voice against injustice and will continue to uphold the democratic principles,” he said.

“They (the ATS officers) asked me to discontinue the functioning of Rihai Manch. I won’t step back an inch. These attempts to target me are not going to scare me, I will not step back till my last breath”, he added.