THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Forty-one-old Hussain will never forget the dark night of June 4. Because, he has not seen daylight since then; courtesy, the police officers at the Fort Police Station in the city, who took him into custody that night for reasons he did not know. He was never allowed to make contact with his family or friends too, a blatant denial of his Constitutional rights. The irony was that the family of Hussain was hoping that the police, with whom they had filed a man-missing complaint, would bring him back to safety, while he was under the custody of their fellow policemen and was being ruthlessly tortured each day. The fact that both the police stations come under the jurisdiction of the same court hints at conspiracy that went into the whole drama. According to Shaji, the brother of Hussain, the police not only kept Hussain under custody illegally, but also tried to cover up the entire incident even after they filed a complaint of man missing at the Thumba police station in their locality. The Fort police kept the arrest a secret even after the Thumba police published a notice announcing the disappearance of Hussain along with his photograph. Hussain, who has been living separately from his wife and children, was never known to have been involved in any kind of crimes before.The matter was brought to light only after the family lodged a complaint with the Chief Minister’s grievance redressal cell and also the Director General of Police a month since the disappearance of Hussain. Two policemen from Thumba station had visited their house the next day after the complaint was forwarded to the Chief Minister. They informed the family that Hussain was under the custody of Fort Police and they needed his sister’s signature to get him out on bail. Even though she objected to their demand out of fear, the police made her do it by threatening her of grave consequences. Following this, the family came to know that Fort police had implicated Hussain in several false cases and produced him before the court, which, in turn, remanded him in judicial custody. They had even snatched his mobile phone and about Rs 2,000 kept in his trouser pocket and never gave it back. Even his Constitutional right to inform his family was denied by the police, Shaji said.
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