“Police asked for his name, the moment he said its Faiz they took him away,” Nida narrates about her husband’s arrest.
Faiz Ahmed(30) is one among the scores of Muslim youth who are picked up by police and slapped with rioting charges. With close to thousand detained and arrested for the Anti Muslim pogrom, many behind bars are innocent victims, legal groups claim.
Faiz works as a wielder in Mohan Nagar, distant from any of the places affected by violence.
Ayyub Khan, Faiz’s brother in law and coworker says he has proof of Faiz not participating in any protest that day and claims they were together that morning.
“We have collected CCTV footage and other witnesses, but we don’t know what will happen,” worries Ayyub.
Faiz, the father of two, was returning home when he was taken into police custody at Gokalpuri. “He was brutally assaulted by police in detention for three days,” Nida told Maktoob.
Picked up on 24th February, he was charged three days later for possession of a local made pistol.
According to his wife, he had only a bag in which he carried his lunch box, phone, some money, charger, and keys.
“We were worried as he didn’t come home and everything was chaos around, I was informed by Faiz on the next day morning,” she adds.
Faiz used some other visitor’s mobile to contact her and share the news. After receiving the whereabouts of her husband she was allowed to meet her husband after a week of the arrest.
The Delhi Police till Wednesday had registered 531 FIRs and arrested or detained 1,647 people in connection with the violence. The number of death increases to 53 a week after anti-Muslim pogrom ended.
