Guilty till proved innocent

Tomorrow, on the occasion of Republic Day, the Varanasi Police will destroy 112 such history-sheets of innocent people. And though justice may have come a little too late for these people — all of whom are well past their prime now, they are looking forward to finally clearing their names.

Their stories have a common thread: innocent yet guilty. The history-sheets changed their lives forever. Chanan, for instance, lost his factory because of the police record.

Chanan’s factory of automobile parts was set up with assistance from the UP Small Scale Industrial Corporation (UPSSIC) and the UP Financial Corporation. ‘‘The police decision to open a history-sheet in my name forced me to leave the city for about five years. On March 26, 1992, the authorities issued an advertisement in the newspapers about auctioning my factory. Two days later, they auctioned it,’’ recalled Chanan, at a function organised by the Varanasi Police yesterday.

‘‘I returned to Varanasi in April 1992 and contacted the officials concerned at the UPSSIC. They could not give any reasons for auctioning my factory. And I could not seek the help of the police due to the history-sheet,’’ he said, adding, ‘‘I had cleared a major part of their loans’’.

Chanan, who moved from Pakistan’s Punjab province to Ramnagar after Partition when he was just a teenager, is a broken man today.

‘‘I never go to the gurudwara. Whenever a new Station House Officer (SHO) joins at Ramnagar police station, I have to show my face. Even my sons and wife are fed up with the frequent visits of policemen at my house. Since I am a durachari, I have lost my right to protect my sons. Kabhi kabhi to ghar mein hi log kah deta tha ki aap mat boliye, aap HS hain,’’ he said.

The others recount a similar story of helplessness against the system. Sheopujan Singh of Kurauti, under the Lohta police station of Varanasi, was taken by surprise when a policeman came to his house one evening and told him to meet the new SHO. That was about 25 years back.

‘‘I was surprised to know that I was listed as an HS,’’ he said. But unlike Chanan, he can at least guess why it happenned. ‘‘I was a witness in a case lodged against the then SHO, Subhas Lal. He then included my name as an HS as revenge. Besides, my family was engaged in a property dispute. Our rivals also played an important role in the inclusion of my name in the list,’’ recalled Sheopujan.

Gulab Singh, 60, a resident of Busaula Chaura under the Cholapur police station, could have led a respectable life as a college lecturer had it not been for the history-sheet filed in his name about three decades back.

‘‘I did my MA in Sociology from Kashi Vidyapeeth in 1974. One day, I came to know that I was listed as a history-sheeter,’’ said Gulab. ‘‘I got my appointment letter as a lecturer in Bhairon Nath Singh Degree College at Raja Talab here. But I could not join the service because I was an HS,’’ he added.

Police said he was an accused in a dacoity case. But Singh claimed he was falsely implicated. Lalji Rajbhar, 62, of Nanpur Mawaiya village under the Sarnath police station, has an even more tragic story. ‘‘I was a police informer. I got arrested two notorious thieves — Pole and Jyoti — of my police station area. The criminals decided to get back to me by naming me as the leader of their gang. And so a history-sheet was lodged in my name,’’ he said.

Krishnamurari Singh, a resident of Chowk police station, was booked in a bank dacoity case in 1976. That’s not all. The police allegedly beat him so badly that he lost one leg and was crippled for life.

‘‘I was innocent. The police sent a ‘witness’ to jail to ascertain my identity. The ‘witness’ was carrying my photograph in his pocket. He was caught red-handed by the magistrate. I was released immediately on the Court’s orders. But the police still listed me as a durachari in their records,’’ he said.

‘‘The names of all the 112 persons have not figured in any case during the last two decades,’’ informed Varanasi SSP Navniet Sekera, who invited all these people for a function yesterday.

He said he wanted to honour such persons who were victims of the system. ‘‘I honoured them because they deserve it. Besides, the stories of these people will also teach a lesson to my policemen about the ‘mistakes’ committed by different police officers. Such ‘mistakes’ must not occur in future,’’ said Sekera.

The rulebook

According to Section 228 of the UP Police Regulations, ‘‘Part 5 consists of history-sheets. These are personal records of criminals under surveillance. History-sheets should be opened only for persons who are likely to become habitual criminals or abettors of such criminals.’’

Out of the 112 persons, 39 names figured in only one case. And three of the persons were never an accused in any case.