Journalist Muthi-ur-Rahman Siddiqui addressing the media along with his
family at Press Club of Bangalore, after releasing from Parappana
Agrahara Central Jail on 26,02,2012. Photo: V Sreenivasa Murthy
“If I was the mastermind, then why are the others still in jail?”
A day after his release from jail, 26-year-old
journalist Muthi-ur-Rahman Siddiqui has accused the police of harbouring
an “institutional bias” against the Muslim community. “If I wasn’t
Muslim, they would never have held me [on charges of being part of a
terror module],” he said at a packed press conference here on Tuesday.
Barely
able to conceal his resentment toward law enforcement agencies and
sections of the media that branded him as the “mastermind” of a terror
module, Mr. Siddiqui said: “The media and the police need to be more
sensitive toward the downtrodden, Dalits and Muslims. The way the media
and the police behaved raises basic questions about their attitude
toward Muslims. Muslims are often cast by them in stereotypes. There is
an institutional bias which manifests in such cases. This is not just
about me; it is about hundreds like me who are in jails [across the
country] on terror charges. Muslims are not terrorists.”
He said, “The media forgot the ‘A’ in the ABC of Journalism [Accuracy-Brevity-Clarity].”
Mr.
Siddiqui was arrested by the Crime Branch of the Bangalore Police,
along with 14 others, in August 2012 on charges of plotting to
assassinate prominent Hindutva leaders as well as some journalists. The
National Investigation Agency, which later took over the case, found no
evidence against either Mr. Siddiqui or Yusuf Nalband in their charge
sheet.
Pleading the case of the other 13 still in
jail, Mr. Siddiqui said, “According to the [Bangalore] police and the
media, I am the mastermind. If I am the mastermind, why are the others
still in jail? I hope they too will get justice.” He said journalism was
his passion and he wanted to continue. Asked if he would sue the
police, he said, “I haven’t thought about that. I want to spend time
with my family first.”
He also alleged that the
police did not follow protocol during his arrest. “They did not inform
our families. They did not tell us what we were being arrested for. They
made us sign 30-40 blank sheets of paper. One of these papers was used
to create fake, back-dated arrest intimation.”
Mr.
Nalband (28), the technician who was released along with Mr. Siddiqui,
was reticent during the press conference. He later told The Hindu,
“I could not sleep the whole of last [Monday] night. I had all kinds of
thoughts. I am not sure if life will be normal again. I am hoping I can
get back to my life, God willing.”
He also alleged
that the Hyderabad police, who assisted the Bangalore police during the
arrests, forced the accused to wear Islamic skull caps before taking
them out of the house where they were arrested. “I don’t know why they
did that,” he said.
