Malegaon: Terrorism and the enforced disappeared persons

As the UNO and many NGOs marked August 30 2009 as the 26th annual day of the disappeared persons it is necessary to look around to take stock. What happened in Malegaon in the aftermath of the bomb blast of September 8, 2006 is still fresh in the minds of the people. Three bombs exploded at around 1.30 pm at the graveyard mosque of what the locals call bada qabrastan and the adjoining Mushawarat chowk. The first enforced disappearance was not of any person who was alive or had survived the blasts. It was strangely the torso and head of a man who had a false beard. There were many volunteers at the scene like the tailor at the graveyard shopping complex who along with others saw the dead body with the false beard coming off from chin where it was stuck. Many also saw the remains at the Wadia hospital. Later on it disappeared. The police and the investigating agencies have not bothered to explain the situation.

But the day of the disappeared persons is mostly about the living who disappear on otherwise a regular, normal fine day. Mostly it is so in their own world. However, disturbances like acts of terrorism, war and riots or massacres take place where the atmosphere gets affected drastically and events are shrouded in mystery. Thus the disappearance of Shankar Shelke in the country side of Ahmednager on September 9, 2006 is puzzling. He was the scrap monger who could have supplied the RDX for the blast in Malegaon on the previous day. It is alleged that he had it in his stock. But given the vicinity of the army cantonment of Ahmednager there is also fear that it had its provenance there. With a hindsight of the reported revelation that Lt Col Prasad Purohit(allegedly involved in Malegaon September 29, 2008 blast) had procured RDX from the army in Jammu and Kashmir and kept it in his house in Pune and Deolali and also the reported tall and bulky man called Mithun Chakravarthy giving over explosives to several trained persons, the death of Shelke assumes sinister implication. The commissioner of Thane police had opined that the Malegaon blasts of 2006 were connected to the RDX found with Shelke, his disappearance and subsequent unnatural death.

The next such unnatural death arousing suspicion is that of Azhar Pervez who had reportedly approached some people and told them very material evidence about the blasts on shabebarat. Thereafter he disappeared. Later on his body was found in the deserted compound near his house. This is enforced disappearance which in 2006 the UN General Assembly defined and adopted through the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance as: "The arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons, or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law." Had the people in whom he had confided the horrible truth of the blasts provided him a protective sheath his testimony in court would have been invaluable.

The Malegaon blasts had taken place in the kind of atmosphere which the then home minister Chaggan Bhujbad and his police had created. He blamed SIMI for every bomb blast in the state and categorically dubbed the Ahlehadesh Muslims to be responsible. They were his bete noire, god alone knows for what reason. However, it is significant to note that the new ATS chief Hemant Karkare had said that as of August 16, 2008 the ATS had not found any involvement of SIMI in the blasts.

Nevertheless, the blame on SIMI had created such a scare that the disappearance of the SIMI president of the town Mohammad Amin Munawar is enigmatic. For, he was preparing meat hamburgers at home for Friday September 8, 2006 afternoon sale. Since then there is no trace of him. If he were a bomber and had conspired to blow up people why should he be making hamburgers for afternoon sale? Another enforced disappearance is that of the old cloth seller Ishtiyaq Ahmed Mustak. The third instance is that of Riyaz Arsalan Shafeeq. They have all disappeared. They were the breadwinners of their families and unlikely to indulge in criminal activities.

The most amazing and legally the most serious is the disappearance of Abrar Ahmed. He would have been what the UNO calls enforced disappeared person but for the habeas corpus that his high court lawyer brother Jalil Ahmed submitted on October 25 2006. From October 25 to December 15, 2006 Abrar was virtually guarded by the police and a police informer and his own brother in law Farooq Vardha. This police informer had a revolver given to him by the police. What for had they given him is a mystery. His one point agenda was to coax Abrar into toeing the police version and confessing his involvement in the blasts. If he did not, was the gun meant for bumping him off? Abrar’s case clearly shows “arrest, detention and abduction.” and “deprivation of liberty by agents of state.” In his affidavit submitted to Judge Shinde he says he was picked up by the police on September 13, 2006.

His arrest and detention was on account of what he had overheard in the Medi Care hospital where some people were talking. They were saying that the blasts were the work of their own people, meaning thereby fellow Hindus. They particularly mentioned Dr Rajender Amin, Dr Bipin Parekh, Someshwar Shankar and a couple of others. The in laws of Abrar discussed the matter of what Abrar had overheard and decided to consult Abrar’s brother in law in Bhiwandi, Farooq Verdha. This is how the police came to know. Rajwardhan showed Abrar some pictures of the suspects whom he did not know. But the senior cop was struck by what Abrar came to know at the Medi Care. In the meantime Abrar’s father and others in the paternal family did not have any contact with him immediately.

Rajwardhan gave Abrar a mobile phone 9823436809 for his use and another phone 9825826597 for his wife. The officer gave his own mobile phone number 9422250775 to them to contact him.
But Abrar and wife could not contact any relatives for the plain clothed police around them prevented it. He was not even allowed to visit Malegaon on the Id day on October 25, 2006. Such deprivation of liberty become even more unbearable as the days passed. He was often threatened of fatal consequences to his person if he did not go according to what the police were saying to him. Ultimately he lost his freedom when he was put in prison from where there is no hope that he would be ever released.

A crucial part of the affidavit which the court will have to analyze is Abrar’s meeting with Lt Col Prasad Purohit who introduced him to ATS in Deolali army cantonment on October 24, 2006. Why should the serving officer of the army introduce him to the ATS? Then on September 1, 2008 ATS officer Jaiswal, Sachin Kadam and Rajwardhan came to see Abrar in Byculla prison and told him that he would have been bailed out by now. But some investigating officers had changed the charge sheet and they (the investigating officers) would be removed as obstacles in two and half month’s time. This was part of their mission. Of course, it was the mission of Jaiswal, Sachin Kadam and Rajwardhan. The question is about what exactly the mission was? Was it a mission conducted by the investigating agencies or the Abhinav Bharat of which Purohit was the pivotal part? Remember that Abrar was brought to meet Dyanand Pandey in Bholenath temple of Ujjain. He also met sadhvi Pragyasingh Thakur in the town on September 26, 2006. He stayed there for nine days. All this would imply that the organized crime syndicate is embedded by the civil and military parts. Who has infiltrated who?

For a lay person all such revelations are too awful, it would better be left to the courts to sort out. International bodies like Amnesty International could lend their expertise if we are quite honest and keen about resolving the matter.