Mob enters house of Kargil War veteran’s kin, labels them Bangladeshis, asks for ID proof

The family submitted a written complaint to the Chandan Nagar police station. While DCP Somay Munde said that an FIR was in the process of being filed, however Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar said that an FIR had already been filed earlier.

Sheikh said his uncle Hakimuddin, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, is a retired Kargil War veteran and several other members of his family have also served in the Indian Army.

Describing the events of July 26, Sheikh said, “Around 11.30-12 in the night, these people started kicking on our door and entered our house demanding our IDs. Groups of 7-10 people kept entering our house and they even went inside our bedrooms and woke up women and children. We showed them our Aadhaar card, PAN card, and even voter IDs but they kept saying they were fake.”

Sheikh added that they were put in a police van and taken to the police station where inspector Seema Dhakne told them to report back the next morning or they would be declared Bangladeshis. Dhakne could not be reached for a comment despite multiple attempts.

Sheikh’s uncle Irshad Ahmad, who resides in the same house, explained the family’s army history, saying, “Our family has a 130-year history of serving in the Indian Army. Our great-grandfather retired as a hawaldar. Our grandfather was a subedar in the army, and his brother was Jamshed Khan DGP Madhya Pradesh. Two of my uncles were subedar majors in the army and now retired — Naimullah Khan joined the army in 1962 and fought in the 1965 war and 1971 wars, Md Salim joined the army in 1968 and he fought in the 1971 war. My own brother Hakimuddin joined the Bombay Sappers in 1982 in Pune and was posted across India after his training. He fought in the Kargil War and retired in 2000. He resides in Pratapgarh in UP.”

The family shared photographs of Hakimuddin and Salim’s Army ID cards and pension documents. Ahmad said that his uncle moved to Pune in 1961 and his elder brother shifted here in 1978, while Ahmad himself has been residing in Pune since 1996.

According to DCP Somay Munde, “We received information that there were suspected illegal Bangladeshi nationals, so we went to the spot. Some of their documents were checked and some were brought to the police station. They were released as it was getting late and were called back the next morning. It was done at night, as sometimes in these combing operations suspects flee… The information was that some of them were from Assam. At that point this was not found (to be true), but we are still investigating.”

Munde added that the family’s allegation that the mob of Bajrang Dal members entered the house is being investigated.

Visibly irked, Ahmad said, “Our family has been serving the nation on its borders. Tamam dushmanon se loha liye (fought with all enemies of the country). My uncle was injured in the ’71 war… It is regrettable that we have sacrificed all this for the country and are being asked for proof. In a peaceful city like Pune, where we have been residing for 64 years, we had not heard of such a thing.”

He added, “They are waking up 5-year-old kids at night, the child wasn’t even able to stand and fell down. Why did the police summon us at 2 am to the police station? Was that a time for the police to come to our house? Are we history-sheeters, mafias, or do we have terrorist tags or MCOCA or TADA charges against us for the police to come at midnight?”

The family met Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar Wednesday evening and requested strict action against the accused.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Kumar  said, “An FIR over unlawful assembly has already been registered and we are recording fresh statements from the family today, and if any sections need to be added, we will do that. The crowd was already gathered at the location and when the police got to know this police arrived there. Maximum staff were in uniform, some might be in plain clothes I’ve not verified it.”

When asked about DCP Munde’s statement about the raid being conducted by the police based on a tip off, Kumar said, “I will tell the sequence of events. There was a crowd there, and they had a doubt that Bangladeshis live there. This was parallely informed to the police. It needs to ascertained which one happened first — the crowd gathering at the spot or the police reaching there. But it happened almost simultaneously. Some of the actions of the crowd were prima facie objectionable.”

NCP working president of city unit, Pradeep Deshmukh, said this was a serious incident as the family was mistreated by a mob. “No one should take law into their own hands.  The people should have trusted the police department instead of entering the house of the family at midnight. The family does not deserve this treatment and it is wrong if a family is ill-treated for belonging to a particular community,” he said.

Deshmukh said that if police find any substance in the complaint against the family, then they must take action as required, but considering the background of serving the Armed Forces, the family should be treated properly.

“Police should take action against the mob and if their complaint against the family is proved wrong, they should take further action as well,” Dhokne said. He added that the police personnel who supported the mob should also face action. “We will take up the issue with higher authorities on the treatment meted out to the family that has served the Armed Forces,” said the NCP leader.