Medical Body Demands Withdrawal of False Police Case in Delhi Riots Against Muslim Doctor
By RMN News Service
A group of medical professionals and activist – Progressive Medicos and Scientists Forum (PMSF) – has demanded the false case slapped against Dr M A Anwar be withdrawn immediately and a fair investigation of all cases related to the February 2020 northeast Delhi riots be conducted by a judicial commission headed by a retired judge.
In its press note released Sunday, PMSF says it condemns the imposition of false case against Dr M A Anwar, who provided selfless services in taking medical care of victims grievously injured during northeast Delhi communal riots.
Meanwhile, a group of UN experts has called on India to immediately release human rights defenders who have been arrested for protesting against changes to the nation’s citizenship laws.
“These defenders, many of them students, appear to have been arrested simply because they exercised their right to denounce and protest against the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act), and their arrest seems clearly designed to send a chilling message to India’s vibrant civil society that criticism of government policies will not be tolerated,” the experts said.
[ Muslim World Angry Over Persecution of Muslims Under Modi Govt ]
According to PMSF, the proprietor of Al-Hind hospital located in New Mustafabad locality of northeast Delhi, Dr Anwar, has been booked by Delhi Police in a case for allegedly instigating the local people against the government on the issue of CAA-NRC (Citizenship Amendment Act – National Register of Citizens) which led them to stage communal clash in the area.
The alleged crime committed by Dr Anwar as stated by police is that he had given instigating speeches at a sit-in near Farooqia Masjid in the locality, that he had helped organize. The police allege that “a false news was spread there that Muslims would not be given Indian citizenship due to NRC, and they would be sent to detention camps.”
[ Religious Freedom Violations Increasing Under Modi Govt: U.S. Commission ]
While Dr Anwar had denied making any such speech, it remains a fact that this opinion was shared by many more people, not just among Muslims, but also the other progressive and democratic sections of the society, including leading intellectuals, members of the judiciary, retired bureaucrats, human rights activists, and even organizations like the United Nations.
PMSF a group of 100 socially concious doctors issued statement in support of humanitarian doctor M A Anwar of Al Hind Hospital Mustafabad who was victimised for helping poor and needy during riots. Delhi police must withdraw all false cases against him. pic.twitter.com/cXgFFp9KJ4
— Harjit Singh Bhatti (@DrHarjitBhatti) June 28, 2020
Having a dissenting opinion is a right guaranteed by the Constitution of the country and can in no way be construed as a crime. “Apart from a violation of democratic rights of the people, the filing of a false FIR against Dr Anwar is a frontal attack on a doctor committed in service of the people, and at a time when the need for such services could hardly be overstated,” said Dr Harjit Bhatti, National Convener PMSF.
It seems that attacking doctors committed to the cause of the people has become the wont of this government, as has also been noted during the ongoing Covid pandemic, PMSF said and demanded that the government should desist from hidings its failings behind a false narrative where the victims themselves are being framed as oppressors.
Meanwhile, according to The Indian Express, the name of Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav finds mention in a chargesheet filed by the Delhi Police in the murder case of head constable Rattan Lal (42) during the riots in northeast Delhi in February.
