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Journalism of Courage
Mohammed Javed and his daughter Afreen Fatima, whose house the Uttar Pradesh administration demolished on Sunday, two days after Prayagraj saw protests over Nupur Sharma’s remarks on the Prophet, are prominent members of the city’s civil society and members of the Welfare Party of India.
While Javed is the party’s central working committee member, Afreen is national secretary of the Fraternity Movement, the student wing of the party.
The district police arrested the 54-year-old on Saturday and claimed he was one of the conspirators of Friday’s protests. SSP Ajay Kumar also claimed that during questioning, Javed said that Afreen often gave him suggestions. He, however, said their preliminary probe had not found any evidence against her.
Welfare Party president Ilyas SQR said, “Javed has been our loyal member since 2011. He has held several posts in the party. We are doing everything possible to help him legally. He is being framed. He was not part of the protest, nor did he give any call on Friday.”
Saying Javed has been part of several protests in the city for over 30 years, including the recent NRC-CAA protests in 2020, an activist in Prayagraj said, “Who wasn’t there for the CAA protests? The entire civil society was there. Hindus, Muslims, Christians, atheists… Everyone took part and so did Javed.”
A friend of Javed’s, who did not wish to be identified, said his politics started in the 1980s during his student days at Ewing Christian College in Prayagraj, where he did his BA.
Another civil society member said Javed was very active during the first and second waves of the pandemic: “He worked round the clock to coordinate with relief camps and arranged food, shelter and transport for migrant workers. During the second Covid wave, he helped many people with oxygen supply.”
Javed, who runs a business of pipes and water fittings in Prayagraj, is married to Parveen Fatima, a homemaker, and has five children – two sons and three daughters, including Afreen.
Afreen has been active in student politics for several years, focusing on issues of Muslim students and women. She did her BA Honours in Linguistics from Aligarh Muslim University, where she was president of the Women’s College Students’ Union in 2018-2019. She later enrolled for her Master’s in Linguistics from Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), where, in 2019, she was elected as a councillor in the students’ union. She had contested for the position as part of an alliance between the Fraternity Movement and the Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association. She graduated from JNU in 2021.
“Afreen was part of my council and was a very vocal student activist on campus. She was part of the anti-fee hike protests, the anti-CAA movement and was there when many of us were assaulted on campus in 2020. We will stand by her and give her whatever help she requires,” said JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh.
Even during her undergraduate days in AMU, Afreen had actively participated in protests, including for Najeeb, the JNU student who went missing in 2016. She was also part of the anti-CAA agitation in Delhi and Prayagraj.
“This year, when the hijab protests erupted in Karnataka, she went there with a delegation of the Fraternity Movement to interact with the protesters in Udupi and Mangalore,” said Waseem R S, JNU student and national secretariat member of the Fraternity Movement.
Earlier this year, Afreen set up a community of young Muslim women in Prayagraj to discuss Islam, politics, society and empowerment.
