Nine days after Muzamil Jaleel, Srinagar bureau chief of The Indian Express, was beaten up outside his residence by policemen, it appears the police had filed a counter-FIR charging him with snatching an officer’s rifle and attempting to kill. On September 1 — the day after the incident — Jaleel had sent an application giving details of the incident and requesting the police to register an FIR against the SP (East) and his men. However, the FIR (No. 120/2002) was registered on September 3 at Rajbagh Police Station. When handing over a copy of the FIR back to him, the police revealed that Jaleel’s FIR was a counter-FIR to No 119/2002, which the police had filed against him on the same day. The incident took place on August 31 evening when Jaleel was at his Jawaharnagar residence. He heard a commotion outside and found it was a near collision between a police Gypsy and a private car. As he was returning home, he was attacked by the policemen, one of whom hit him on the head with rifle butts. They were guards of SP East, Rafiq-ul-Hassan, who was also present there. When he recognised Jaleel, he ordered his men to let him go.
