Indian Americans express outrage over Nuh encounter killing; call for prosecution of police officers involved
UP in the grip of an “encounter mania” under Yogi Adityanath
September 21, 2017
The Indian American Muslim Council (http://www.iamc.com), an advocacy group dedicated to safeguarding India’s pluralist and tolerant ethos has called for the immediate suspension, arrest and criminal prosecution of the four police officers of Haryana’s Central Investigation Agency, involved in the grisly murder and cover up of Munfaid Hussain, a 30-year old young farmer belonging to the Meo community in the Nuh district of Haryana.
According to a report by a fact-finding team constituted by Citizens Against Hate, Munfaid was ordered by officers of the Haryana CIA to perform work for them on September 15, 2017 a day before he was brutally killed. The deceased was told if he complied they would remove false allegations from his records. Munfaid’s father and father-in-law told him to comply with the officers’ requests to have false accusations against him removed. However, the next morning, Munfaid’s family received the news of his killing.
The fact-finding team found that the police took the victim’s body first to Nalhad Medical College Hospital, Nuh and then to CHC, Nuh and then to a private doctor to get the post-mortem performed before the victim’s family could arrive, in an apparent attempt to tamper with the evidence.
Per the autopsy report, a reddish contusion and firearm entry wounds were found on the front side of the body, along with a deformed metallic bullet found over the right side of second thoracic vertebrae.
“We condemn this police atrocity against an innocent man, in the strongest possible terms,” said Mr. Ahsan Khan, President of IAMC. “The members of the victim’s family should be given witness protection immediately, in order to ensure a thorough and independent investigation into this murder,” added Mr. Khan.
What makes this encounter especially egregious are the discrepancies between the official police account and the corroborating accounts of the local physicians’ statement of not complying with an illegal post-mortem ordered by the police officers. In addition, the account of three witnesses, the father of the victim and the testimonies of the villagers speaks volumes about the high levels of impunity in the state apparatus, tasked with protecting the lives of citizens.
Munfaid’s murder by the State is the sixteenth extrajudicial killing of young Muslim men by police in Mewat within the last few years.
CONTACT:
Indian American Muslim Council
Phone/Fax: 1-800-839-7270
Email: info@iamc.com
Facebook: Indian American Muslim Council
Twitter: @IAMCouncil
Address: 6321 W Dempster St. Suite 295, Morton Grove, IL 60053.
References:
1. Nuh encounter: A night before killing, Munfaid was called by the police to do their work, reports fact-finding team
http://twocircles.net/2017sep19/416789.html
2. Mewat, Haryana on the Boil After Another Muslim Youth Killed in Staged Encounter
http://caravandaily.com/portal/mewat-haryana-on-the-boil-after-another-muslim-youth-killed-in-staged-encounter/
3. ‘Police Encounter’ Witnessed By 3 Friends of the Victim Who Have Gone Into Hiding, Says Fact Finding Report
http://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/NewsDetail/index/2/11775/Police-Encounter-Witnessed-By–3–Frie
4. ‘Police Encounter’ Witnessed By 3 Friends of the Victim Who Have Gone Into Hiding, Says Fact Finding Report
https://in.news.yahoo.com/killed-30-old-farmer-munfaid-145700432.html
5. Yogi Adityanath’s Uttar Pradesh is in the grip of an encounter mania; Ab tak Attharah (18) and counting
http://www.firstpost.com/india/yogi-adityanaths-uttar-pradesh-is-in-the-grip-of-an-encounter-mania-ab-tak-attharah-18-and-counting-4062869.html
