Eight-year-old Rizwan was arrested along with his grandfather by Bihar police on 8 September accusing them of the communal violence that broke out in Siwan.
“My kid went to the mosque to pray with his grandfather, and both of them were arrested,” Rizwan’s sobbing mother Vakilkan Khatoon said.
Vakilkan reported that she got a call from the police station, informing her about her son’s arrest. She said that the police had told her that Rizwan would be released soon after questioning. However, when she went to meet him the following morning, the police allegedly stopped her from seeing her son.
Rizwan, she said was admitted to the Siwan juvenile facility on 9 September.
Vakilkan alleged that police demanded money from her to release Rizwan.
“Some staff members in police uniforms and civil dress asked me how old my son is, when I went to meet him in the juvenile home,” Vakilkan continued. “When I gave them Rizwan’s birth certificate, they told me that it would cost me Rs 12,000 to get him released in addition to paying them separately,” she alleged.
She said her ailing father-in-law, who was arrested with her son had undergone two surgeries recently.
A local journalist, Mohammad Farooq visited Barharia police after Rizwan’s arrest. “I wanted to know from the station in charge why they arrested an eight-year-old boy. The officer told me that a boy was seen pelting stones in a video,” Farooq said.
“When I watched the stone-pelting video, I saw that the boy in the video appeared to be around 14 years old, while Rizwan is just 8 years old,” he said.
Procession, Violence And Arrest
The ‘Barharia Purani Bazar’ is located 15 kms from the city of Siwan. The neighbourhood has shops belonging to both Muslims and Hindus. There is an old mosque in the area, where people from surrounding areas come to offer namaz. Every year, a religious procession is organised for Mahaviri Mela on 8 September from this area.
A series of arrests started after communal tensions during Mahaviri Mela on 8th September this year.
According to Azhar Qureshi, a local resident and a cousin of Rizwan, the local government began stationing police near the mosque during the Mahaviri Mela in 2001.
“On the evening of 8 September, at the time of Asr namaz, the Mahaviri procession reached near the mosque, but the cameras installed by the administration were not working,” Azhar said.
Azhar claimed that in addition to the police, the regional SP, SDO, and SHO of the Barharia police station used to be present during the Mahaviri procession in the Barharia Purani Bazar area every year. But this time only a few policemen were present.
Recalling the incident of 8 September, Azhar alleged that some of the processioners began smashing bikes that were parked outside and using sticks to hit the mosque’s walls and windows. He said the Muslim community complained to the police officers stationed there, but they provided no assistance. Following this, some Muslims began pelting stones.
“But the miscreants went towards the old market, where they ransacked many Muslim-owned shops and burnt them in front of the police. A clinic and a pharmacy were among the shops that were burnt. Some Muslim shopkeepers were also beaten up,” Azhar said.
Azhar further alleged that the mob that attacked the mosque were repeating slogans of Jai Shri Ram and “Masjid Jalawe Ka Ba, Masjid dhwast Kare Ka Baa“.
He said that the violence continued till evening, after which the police forces arrived.
“Local Muslim youth had left, but the elderly were still present in the mosque. My seventy-year-old grandfather Yasin Qureshi and my 8-year-old cousin Muhammad Rizwan Ali sat in the mosque. When the force entered the mosque, they arrested the people present there including Rizwan and my grandfather.”
Praveen Prabhakar, the SHO of Barhariya police station stated that the community should have approached the administration if they had problems during the procession rather than throwing stones.
SHO said that “The video of Rizwan pelting stones came to us. He told in interrogation that he had pelted stones at someone’s behest. But he did not tell on whose behest he did it. Ten people have been arrested from both communities, against whom a case has been registered under IPC sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with a deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 188 (disobedience to order), 296 (disturbing religious assembly), 337 (causing hurt), 338 (causing grievous hurt), 435 (mischief with intent to damage), 427 (mischief with substance), 505 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 307 ( (party to criminal conspiracy).
#ReleaseRizwan
Meanwhile, Rizwan’s arrest has drawn wide condemnation, with several people taking to social media demanding his release.
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Mohammad Sartaj Alam is an independent Journalist, associated with The Telegraph (UK), The Guardian, BBC and The Quint.
