The Terrorist who was not a Terrorist

Eyewitness account of a young boy picked up from his home in Jamia Nagar by the Special Cell

Amit Sengupta/Akash Bisht Delhi

Tuesday, September 23. Inside the dingy and congested bylanes near Jamia Nagar, these reporters were looking for clues and leads on the encounter which killed "mastermind" Atif and "terrorist" Sajid, just about 17. Opinion leaders and relatives are reluctant to disclose their identities, the terror of the police is inevitable, and yet questions are being asked about the grey zones in the encounter and after, even as scores of boys are being picked up on unknown vehicles by plain-clothes cops of the Special Cell of the Delhi police.

Even as a delegation of journalists, lawyers and academics discussed micro-details, a SMS followed by a call, brought in a pall of gloom. And fear. The faces became white, especially of youngsters, as someone shouted: "The Special Cell cops are all over the streets, in civvies." They have picked up a cousin of Atif, just out of school. They were actually looking for Talib, his brother and Irfan (name changed), Atif's close relative. Both these young men looked abjectly condemned. One is an IT executive and the other a journalist with a TV channel. "They have come to pick us up. Tomorrow they will present us before TV cameras and declare us as terrorists - bombers of the blasts," they said, even as the delegation quickly moved to the spot.

The spot through the labyrinth of lanes ended at E-75, Abul Fazal Enclave, Shaheen Bagh, the home of the youngster Mohammad Saqib. The cops had picked him up, packed him off in a car and taken him to an undisclosed location. Nobody in the family was told anything, nothing.

A huge crowd had gathered outside the house. Several youngsters - all feeling cornered that they too can be branded "terrorists" and picked up anytime - collected around the house. No one knew what to do, not even some elders, including a functionary of the Jamaat-i-Islami Hind. One senior "human rights activist" was asked by a lawyer to go and complain to the police - after all the boy is missing and no one knows the identity of the persons who picked him up! His solution was bizarre: "Here everytime a boy is picked up, we dial 100 and register a complain with the police. Rest is for the police."

Basically this translated in the fact that everyone including close relatives were too scared to go to the police station to register a complaint. So intense is the police terror in the area.

Outside the house, women too gathered, many of them crying. "His career will be spoiled," said a woman. Another said, "Why don't the police blow up the entire Jamia Nagar. Nothing will be left then. Then whom will they pick up?" Said a woman in red salwar kameez, tears flowing down her face: "If all the men here have become impotent, we women will have to come out on the streets and save our children."

At the Jamia Nagar police station, senior lawyer Colin Gonzalves along with another lawyer lodged a complaint. Along with him were senior journalists Praful Bidwai and Jawed Naqvi and several Jamia teachers. This seemed to have played a significant part in pushing the police to take a slightly conciliatory posture - before this, nobody came up to lodge a complaint when the police picked up youngsters.

Meanwhile, both close relatives were sure they will be picked up. "Let them do it," said one of them. "My mother is a blood pressure patient, what if something happens to us? Atif was my aunt's son, so we knew him; how can we avoid that fact?"

Accompanied by Gonzalves, Talib went to his office. Then came a call. From the Special Cell office. Saqib was on the line. "They are asking you to come here. Only then they will release me."  So, was this a bargain? And under what legal provision?

But now, at least it was clear that Saqib was picked up by the Special Cell. So Gonzalves and another lawyer rushed to the Special Cell office. They were denied entry. They were told only Talib or the father can take Saqib's custody.  What are the charges against him? Nothing was told.

As they were returning, a call came: "Okay. Come back. Take the kid."

Talib was in control all this while, knowing fully well that if he is picked up and passed as a "terrorist" to the media, his fate is condemned. But he refused to go to any "safe place". "I have done no crime. My brother has done no crime. Why should they want to pick us up like that? I am ready to go to the police station to answer their questions. We are law abiding people. I was there yesterday with the police when Atif's body was being handed over. This was my responsibility.  I went to the police station today also."

In this tension, suddenly, Saqib arrived. Young, still a teenager, preparing for his BTech exams, clad in a pyjama and T-shirt, bare-foot, he seemed lost. Then he saw Talib. And he burst into tears. Crying like a baby, he hugged Talib, who too had no self-control left anymore. In this realm of terror, two innocent brothers found each other - surprised that they were not in jail, and not branded as terrorists.

"They were looking for Talib," said Saqib. "They picked me up, clamped my face and mouth and dragged me into a Santro. They did not allow my mother and others to even exchange a word. They abused me all the way, threatening me with dire consequences. Soon another car came with a man in a black hood. He was asked to identify me. He nodded in the negative. On the way they threatened that they will pick up my family. What were you doing during the Jaipur blasts? I said I have never been to Jaipur. Then I was taken to their office. They said I was in one of the footage of the encounter. I said show it to me. They said they don't have the video. Then another guy, from another cabin was asked to identify me. He also said he had no clue about me. They put me in handcuffs and made me sit on the floor."

They broke their roza with a snack and proceeded towards home. Mother is waiting. What if they come again in the night?

"If I can't sleep in my own house, where else should I go? Why should I hide?" said Talib.