How a Taslimuddin case collapses

What was the point of continuing the case? All the witnesses turned hostile, I spent all my money and wasted my time,8217;8217; says Manza...

What was the point of continuing the case? All the witnesses turned hostile, I spent all my money and wasted my time,8217;8217; says Manzar Alam, sitting in his 8216;clinic8217;.

Alam is not a qualified physician but 8216;treats8217; patients and has spent several hours fighting a losing case8212;against Union minister Mohammed Taslimuddin.

He is the complainant in the case in which Taslimuddin was a proclaimed offender8212;till Saturday when the Bihar government decided to withdraw it.

After seven years of fighting, Alam gave up last year and filed a 8216;compromise8217; petition.

According to the FIR no 375/96, Taslimuddin and his supporters exploded a bomb and fired shots in front of Alam8217;s house in Rajokar in Araria. Taslimuddin and 12 other were accused of attempt to murder and charged under sections of IPC, Arms Act and Explosive Substance Act at the Araria police station.

In March 2000, an Araria court ordered attachment of Taslimuddin8217;s property after the Bihar police failed to execute a non-bailable arrest warrant against him. The police never got around to attaching the minister8217;s properties.

nbsp;	The dog trainer8217;s story

		nbsp;	8226; One case may have been withdrawn but Taslimuddin still faces other criminal cases. Take case no 42/86 Araria PS. In this case, a dog trainer accused Taslimuddin of making him forcibly sign a document. According to the FIR, there was a theft in Dr Niranjan Mandal8217;s house and a dog and its trainer were brought to trace the thief. According to the FIR, the dog went straight to Taslimuddin8217;s house. And Taslimuddin forced the trainer to sign a document saying he was innocent. There are more in his affidavit filed during the Lok Sabha elections, there are nine cases against him. In one of them, Vidyasagar Sharma, a power overseer, accused Taslimuddin of beating him up, putting a rope around his neck and dragging him all over town.	nbsp;

Alam says he got tired of fighting a case that was going nowhere and filed a 8216;8216;compromise8217;8217; petition last year. 8216;8216;We are all common people and we have nothing to do with politics. A common man is like an insect. I fought but you need stamina. All the witnesses turned hostile. What was I to do?8217;8217; he says.

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Even though Alam submitted in the petition that he knew nothing about the incident, he still says the incident did take place and Taslimuddin was present. 8216;8216;Of course, Taslimuddin was there when the incident happened. But I don8217;t want to go on with the case.8217;8217;

On Saturday, the public prosecutor, K.B. Yadav8212;appearing before the Araria court on behalf of the state government and on direction from the Araria DM8212;called for withdrawal of the case.

First Class Judicial Magistrate K K Singh stayed the warrant against Taslimuddin and fixed the date for hearing on August 16.

Yadav says there is nothing in the case as all the witnesses turned hostile. 8216;8216;This case was instituted on the complaint of Manzar Alam and investigation was carried out. The police submitted that there was lack of sufficient evidence but even then the learned magistrate took cognizance on the basis of the protest petition by Alam,8217;8217; he says. But the case fell through, he says, when Alam filed another petition saying he had never filed such a protest.

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8216;8216;The informant Alam has also filed a compromise petition saying that the protest petition filed earlier was forged and fabricated and that the case was instituted due to political rivalry,8217;8217; he says.

He says a compromise has been reached between the two parties and the Bihar law department decided to withdraw the case after observing all legal procedures.