Delhi Police and their fake tales of heroism have always kept the Courts in Delhi busy. To pen down another such tale, Delhi Police had arrested Mohammad Rafiq Shah, a student of MA (final) at Shah-i-Hamadan, Institute of Islamic Studies, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, on the Midnight of November 21, 2005. Justice has been finally delivered but after 12 long years that were enough to destroy Rafiq’s youth.
On 29th of October, 2005, a Bomb Blast in one DTC bus left 63 dead and over 100 injured. People were crying with fury in their eyes over the ones who planned and executed this inhuman act. They hoped that the Delhi Police will act and get the culprits arrested. 20 days on and their hopes started to add to their misery as Delhi Police failed to make any arrests in connection with the Bomb Blasts.
To hide their failure, Delhi Police created a Special Task Force (STF) with the Kashmir Police and made a few arrests. Mohammad Rafiq Shah, unfortunately, turned out to be one of them. Rafiq was subjected to torture and humiliation for two days at an STF camp before being shifted to Delhi. There was simply no evidence against him except for a few witnesses who kept changing their statements.
Almost twelve years later, Rafiq has managed to find some justice for himself as he walked free after additional sessions judge Reetesh Singh acquitted him of all charges. Rafiq’s claim that “He was made an accused to assuage the public perception that Delhi Police was incompetent to act against terrorism” and that “he was a vulnerable target… made a scapegoat” was finally proven and Delhi Police’s inhuman act to hide their failure was finally exposed.
By 2008, even the media was ready with an argument in Rafiq’s favour but the Delhi Police deliberately kept fooling justice to hide their own failure. The Court time and again stated that,
“The criminal justice administration system in India places human rights and dignity for human life on a much higher pedestal. An accused is presumed to be innocent till proved guilty and is entitled to fairness and true investigation and a fair trial. The prosecution is expected to play a balanced role in the trial of crime and the investigation should be judicious, fair, transparent and expeditious to ensure compliance with the basic rule of law.”
However, the Delhi Police kept making it sure that every single point of that statement was contradicted in Rafiq’s case.
The hope of justice kept Rafiq’s spirits alive. In a statement by Rafiq, he said that he was tortured in ways unimaginable for a normal human. He was forced to drink urine, was kept naked and was sexually abused all to get his fighting spirit destroyed. He went and alleged that rats were put in his trousers to increase the level of torture on him. He was also subjected to religious abuse that were hurled at him with an objective of hurting his religious sentiments.
Delhi Police first presented two witnesses, Danbir Sharma and Rajeev Sinha. Danbir Sharma and Rajeev Sinha both gave out description of the accused that contradicted each other. As per Sinha, the culprit had a french-cut beard but the defence had aptly proven that Rafiq’s beard was full-grown. It was alleged that on November 25, 2005, inspector Badrish Dutt brought a barber to the special cell office and got his beard trimmed to resemble a French cut. He then took a photo of Rafiq on his cellphone.
Rafiq was present in his college attending lectures but the attendance sheet too was kept away from the court by Delhi Police. The defence, after working hard for all those years, somehow managed to prove Rafiq’s presence in Kashmir when the Blast took place.
Delhi Police stated that the other accused arrested, Mohammad Husain Fazili (who too has been acquitted of all charges now), led them to the arrest of Rafiq. However, Fazili too denied identifying Rafiq and stated that he himself was fooled and arrested on the pretext of an inquiry in a case under the Wildlife Protection Act. Inspector Badrish Dutt was the one handling the case.
With a hope of justice, Rafiq kept fighting despite of all odds. He said, “It seems I am being victimised only because I am a Kashmiri Muslim,” and always believed his words. Justice was finally delivered to him and also to Fazili but along with the many lives that had been lost during the blasts, two more youths died a silent death in the prisons of Delhi.
Words will never be enough to describe the pain Mohammad Rafiq Shah had to face for a crime he never did. We can sympathise his pain but can never understand it completely. A question arises, who was at fault, our judiciary, Delhi Police or our complete system. The whole media is busy talking of elections and only elections. Not many media houses will bring this story to your screens as that will expose the massive loopholes of our system.
That said, we wish the erring Delhi Police officer Badrish Dutt and every other officer involved, get the strictest of punishment to make sure the belief for justice of every Rafiq remains intact. Do share this news as much as possible to make the Delhi Police realise that India will always stand United against injustice.