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Journalism of Courage
What is the cost of a “misunderstanding”? For Mohammed Anzar Alam, 35, it is a jail stint for a crime not committed, a younger brother failing his Class 12 board exams, the loss of a family’s only source of income and a debt of over Rs 1 lakh, besides the stink of suspicion that refuses to dissipate.
Alam was one of the five madrasa teachers “mistakenly” arrested on charges of trafficking 59 children from Bihar to Maharashtra on May 30, 2023. The teachers were travelling on the Danapur-Pune Express when they were detained by the Government Railway Police (GRP) at Maharashtra’s Manmad and Bhusawal railway stations on the suspicion of supplying child labourers.
In May 2024, GRP officers said the case against the five teachers had been closed in March this year, 10 months after their arrest, when it was concluded that the First Information Reports (FIR) was lodged due to a “misunderstanding”. Sharad Jogdand, inspector, Manmad GRP, said, “After due verification, we ascertained (that) there was no human trafficking and filed a C-summary (closure report) in court.”
For Alam, however, everything has changed. He says, “Aapke kapde se daag agar hatt bhi jaaye, lekin uske nishan reh jaate hain. Log ab hume shaq ki nazar se dekhte hai (The stink stays on even when the stains wash off. People look at us with suspicion now).”
While Alam claims he spent three months in jail, teachers Saddam Hussain Siddiqui, 23, Noman Alam Siddiqui, 29, Ejaz Ziyabbul Siddiqui, 40, and Mohammed Shahnawaz Haroon, 23, spent 12 days in police custody and 16 days in Nashik jail.
On May 30, 2023, 59 children aged between eight and 17 years from Bihar’s Araria district were travelling with their five teachers to Pune and Sangli to study in madrasas. Acting on a “tip-off” by a senior officer linked to the Juvenile Justice Board in Delhi and the Railway Board, the Railway Protection Force (RPF), along with an NGO, “rescued” these children and arrested the teachers.
At the time of the arrests, RPF officials had claimed the five men had failed to provide adequate documentation for their travel, leading to the filing of an FIR under Sections 370 (trafficking of persons) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. The children were taken to shelter homes in Nashik and Bhusawal for 12 days since officials suspected they were being trafficked. When their angry parents demanded their return, the children were escorted back to Bihar by the Nashik district administration.
Meanwhile, labelled “child traffickers”, the teachers say they are still struggling to get their lives back on track. An upset Alam told The Indian Express on the phone, “I was shocked when a friend of mine, who has known me for a decade, asked me, ‘Kyon kiya aisa? (Why did you do this)’.”
Before his arrest, Alam taught in a madrasa based in Walwa, Sangli. The sole breadwinner in a family of eight, including his three children, he earned Rs 23,000 per month. Stating that he is still looking for a job with a stable income, Alam says the madrasa gave his job to another teacher while he was in jail.
The resident of a village in Bihar’s Araria district adds, “After my arrest, my younger brother came to Maharashtra and ran from pillar to post to get me bail. This was an important year for him since he was in Class 12. He ended up failing his exams. The false case cost him a year.” While his brother was trying to get justice for him, Alam’s family was forced to survive on money borrowed from friends and relatives. “On top of everything else, this case has left me with a debt of Rs 1.05 lakh. The government should compensate me for the harassment I faced,” Alam says.
His colleague Noman believes that they were profiled by the police because of their religion. “Had the suspects belonged to some other community, the police would have made a case after conducting preliminary inquiries,” says an angry Noman, also a resident of Araria district.
Being the only breadwinner in a family of 13, he says he was worried about them the entire time he was in jail. “My family had to borrow money to survive for those four weeks. I have managed to repay that loan somehow,” he says, adding that he is currently teaching in madrasas in Bihar.
As a teacher, he appreciates the quick action by the police since the matter involed children, yet, he says “such promptness should be reserved for an actual crime”.
Noman adds, “Some of the parents even arrived in Nashik a few days after our arrest and gave statements in our favour, but those fell on deaf ears.”
Calling it the “most horrific phase of his life”, Ejaz says his nine-year-old son was among the children on the train that day. “While we were detained at the railway stations, they checked our bags saying that we were smuggling charas and ganja (drugs). We were just taking the children from Bihar to a madrasa in Maharashtra so they could get good religious education, food and shelter,” says Ejaz, adding that his parents, farmers in Araria district, struggled to make ends meet while he was behind bars.
Even getting bail was not the relief he had hoped for, he says. “For eight weeks, I was required to visit local police stations in Araria to give hajri (attendance). At the station, I would be made to sit for 2-3 hours just to sign the hajri register. If this is not harassment, I don’t know what is,” Ejaz adds.
The “misunderstanding” has had a severe impact on Shahnawaz’s life too. The Sangli-based teacher says, “The criminal case will vanish from government records, but not people’s memories. Though they know the case was false, the FIR and arrests changed their perceptions of us. My family is so frightened that they have asked me to reconsider my decision to apply for a job in Saudi Arabia.”
Teacher Saddam, also from Araria, says his parents were so distraught after the incident that they did not eat for days. He says, “I had the documents of all the children and offered to connect the police with their parents via video calls, but they demanded an authority letter from the local sarpanch or parents. Since we didn’t have it, the police quickly made a child trafficking case against us. You need evidence before filing such a harsh case against anyone, but the police didn’t stop to think how that one move would destroy so many lives.”
