Lawyer for 20-year-old student arrested by Maharashtra ATS seeks action against agency officers for ‘misbehaviour’

In his plea, Ibraheem said he was giving his client information about his legal rights when Shaikh told him that the ATS officials were forcing him to give a confession. Ibraheem said he told Shaikh about his rights, that he could not be forced to give a confession, and that any such confession would be illegal.

“Suddenly, officers of the ATS started shouting at me and started to threaten me and told me to leave the police station or face severe consequences,” he said.

Ibraheem also claimed that no CCTV cameras were installed in the interrogation room or elsewhere on the office premises. In his plea, Ibraheem sought that the court take note of the alleged conduct and that an inquiry and a report on the CCTV installation at the ATS office be conducted, as mandated by previous Supreme Court orders, along with action against the officers allegedly forcing a confession.

Shaikh, who was produced before a court on Monday, also told the judge that he was being forced to give a confession against his will.

ATS sought further custody of Shaikh, stating it was probing his links with Pakistan-based terrorist outfit, Jaish-e-Mohammed. The agency also claimed that Shaikh posted messages on a Telegram group to provoke violence, and his custody was required to probe into the electronic devices seized from him.

His lawyer said that merely being a member of a Telegram group does not constitute an offence under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

After Shaikh’s arrest, the ATS conducted searches last week, citing specific intelligence inputs that some individuals were allegedly spreading extremist material online and were suspected of having links with handlers based abroad.