14 days in hell and back

Years after the Mumbai serial blasts, a family recalls their days in police custody

When two-year-old Zareen Haspatel dug out that piece of metal from a lakebed near her house, her eyes lit up. That8217;s a new toy, she thought, and took it home. The 8216;toy8217; was a seemingly innocuous bobbin, the kind used in textile mills in Satara district, but it was enough to put the Haspatel family through 14 days of horror.

Those were dangerous times in Maharashtra. A series of blasts had ripped through Mumbai and the police were conducting raids throughout the state, arresting several people suspected of helping prime accused Dawood Ibrahim. The Haspatels had nothing to do with the blast 8212; they were just another middle class family from Shrivardhan village in Raigad district, where most of the explosives had been unloaded.

April 13, 1993. A day after the blasts, Iqbal Haspatel, the head of the family, then about 54, was in his living room. It was just another day and the Haspatel women were going about their work. At 10.30 a.m., Iqbal got up to check the commotion outside his house. More than 50 policemen were at his door.

Before he could react, the policemen, led by Tikaram Bhal, senior superintendent of Raigad, barged in. 8216;8216;They began thrashing and abusing us, saying 8216;Tum desh drohi ho. Gaddar ho. Dawood ke aadmi ho. Tumhare ghar mein missles hai jisse Bal Thackeray ko maarna hai. Tum jeene ke laayak nahi ho You are traitors, Dawood8217;s men. You have missiles in you house8217;. We had no clue what was happening,8217;8217; recalls Iqbal.

The next few hours were terrifying. The policemen smashed the glass on their showcase and held up Zareen8217;s 8216;toy8217; 8212; the bobbin. 8216;8216;They took the stove lighter from the kitchen and asked me if it was some kind of a detonator. The cops also destroyed our radio saying it was a wireless set with which we communicate with terrorist outfits,8217;8217; says Iqbal8217;s wife Zubeida. The flooring of the house was dug out to see if there were hidden explosives. At the end of what seemed an unending nightmare, Iqbal, Zubeida and their daugher Zareen were taken to the Shrivardhan lock-up.

Their son Mubin was at his cousin8217;s house to share some great news 8212; he had got a passport and a job in Bahrain and was leaving soon. But on his way home, the police picked him up too. His brother Naim, who was then in Class 9, was in the van 8212; the cops had picked him up from school. Naim was let off but his father Iqbal and brother Mubin were booked under TADA and remanded in police custody for 14 days.

For those 14 days, the three Haspatels 8212; Iqbal, Mubin and Zubeida 8212; went through hell. They were first taken to the local mosque and allegedly beaten up.

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The torture followed a routine. From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. everyday, the three Haspatels were assaulted. The cops would take Zubeida to a nearby lake, ask to take a dip and allegedly kick her. Zubeida says she wasn8217;t allowed to breastfeed the 2-year-old Zareen in lock-up unless she bribed the cops Rs 300 every time she did so.

Mubin suffered the worst. The policemen would allegedly keep an iron bar on both his legs and get two of their colleagues to stand on it. Mubin alleged the cops hung him from the fan, gave him electric shocks on his penis, and stubbed bidis on his body.

But of all the torture they went through, the most humiliating was near the tricolour posted outside the police station. 8216;8216;We were all brought out in the middle of the night near the tiranga. Mubin and I were stripped naked before my wife Zubeida,8217;8217; says Iqbal.

8216;8216;They kept drinking and using filthy language right under the flag8230;and they call us deshdrohis traitors,8217;8217; says Mubin.

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Three days later, on 16 April, 1993, their relative Nasir Jalal came to meet them at the Shrivardhan lock-up. Jalal asked the police for the incriminating object that they found in the Haspatel house. 8216;8216;I told the policemen that these are not people who store missiles. SSP Bhal showed me a bobbin and said, 8216;Here, the missile8217;. I saw it and said, 8216;Yeh to bobbin hai. I have worked in the textile industry and I know these things8217;,8217;8217; says Jalal.

The cops began investigating. They took the bobbin to a textile mill near Mahad and discovered they had goofed up. The next day, Zubeida and her daughter were allowed to go home. However, Iqbal and Mubin were kept in custody till their remand period got over.

8216;8216;I still do not understand why they continued beating me even after they discovered the 8216;missile8217; was only a bobbin,8217;8217; says Mubin, his hands clenched in a fist. Mubin and Iqbal were both asked to sign a document, saying they were not tortured. They refused to.

By the time they got out, the media had got wind of the Haspatels8217; story. Bhal and Patil were suspended. The National Human Rights Commission awarded the Hanspatels a compensation of Rs 5 lakh. A criminal complaint filed by the family was dismissed in May this year on the ground that the state had not given any sanction to proceed against the officers. A suo-moto criminal complaint against the officers is still pending in the Alibaug magistrate8217;s court.

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Today, Iqbal, Mubin and Zubeida face serious health problems. Mubin, now 35, keeps getting fits, a psychological effect of the torture. The police destroyed his passport, making it impossible for him to ever go abroad.

The Haspatels want justice and soon. 8216;8216;The officers who were suspended are back at work and even promoted. We do not want any compensation,8217;8217; says Iqbal.