National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had taken cognizance of a complaint by Amnesty Member named Mohammad Abdul Mujeeb, alleging by senior police officials against a person who was protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 (CAA) in the State of Telangana, in January this year.
Mujeeb claimed and told the NHRC that he was intimidated by the Assistant Commissioner of Police and Special branch Police for taking out a rally in protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act on December 22. He further claimed that he received a threatening call from a cop in which he identified himself as Inspector Special Branch. He was allegedly asked to present before the Commissioner of Police, Karimnagar, VB Kamalasen Reddy. Later in the noon, he was asked to appear before Karimnagar Town police station. During counseling at the station, ACP Ashok, in presence of the inspector, said anti-CAA protestors should go to the neighboring country instead. I informed the police that I was part of the protest but not the organizer, he said
Later, The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked Telangana Director-General of Police M Mahender Reddy to appear personally before the commission in a case related to communal remarks passed by the Assistant Commissioner of Police against a CAA protestors.
NHRC issued conditional summons to DGP after no action taken report was received from the police. The human rights body was acting on a petition filed by Muhammad Abdul Mujeeb of Karimnagar.
Based on his complaint, NHRC sought an action taken report (from the police). Despite giving the last opportunity, no report has been submitted to date. The commission takes serious note of this non-responsive attitude, NHRC said.
In light of a newspaper report detailing this complaint, lawyers Bilal Khan and Anshu Kapoor moved the NHRC on behalf of Mujeeb. They urged that the complainant was merely exercising his Fundamental Right under Article 19(1)(b) whereas the allegations against the police were serious.
The Karimnagar police had, however, outrightly rejected these claims.
