‘Acquittal in a fabricated case can’t be called justice’
“If you call my acquittal in a fabricated case as justice then the whole meaning of the word justice changes,” said Tariq Ahmad Dar who was recently acquitted in the 2005 Delhi serial blast case after 12 long years as the prosecution failed to prove his guilt.
A resident of Solina locality of Srinagar, Tariq returned home Friday to a rousing reception. The local residents had erected banners with Arabic text “Ahlan wa sehlan” to mark Tariq’s homecoming. Another banner read: “We salute your steadfastness”.
As people were making beeline to meet Tariq at his home, he narrated his ordeal of 12 long years.
Tariq, now 42, was 30 years old when he was picked up by some unknown persons on November 10, 2005.
“I was Kashmir in-charge for Johnson & Johnson and was earning good. I had gone to Anantnag for some work and while returning I was interrupted by some people at Pampore who told me that my car tyre had punctured. As I got down to check it, some gun-wielding men surrounded me and bundled me into a car blindfolded,” he recalled.
Tariq said he was taken to some unknown place where he was tortured for the whole night.
“Next morning they drove me handcuffed and blindfolded. Soon I found myself on a plane to Delhi where I was lodged at special cell in Lodhi Colony,” he said.
He said 200 people were already waiting for him when he entered Lodhi Colony. “I was bleeding and they started me beating again,” Tariq said.
“In Special cell at Lodhi colony I was subjected to the same torture for which Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison is so infamous for. I was forced to drink urine, rats were put in my trousers and pigs were rubbed on my body,” Tariq recounted.
He said there was a time when he wished to die instead of facing brutal torture like water boarding. “I was given electric shocks. They used to tie me on the bench and pour water on my nose continuously, it felt like drowning. One would prefer to die instead of facing such torture,” he said.
“For 45 days I was kept naked and was not allowed to wear trousers. They were not humans,” Tariq said, referring to his tormentors.
“I pleaded my innocence but they continued to act like wild animals. When I asked why they were doing this to me they replied because I was a Kashmiri and a Muslim which was enough for them to torture me like that,” he said.
He said after 10-12 days, Rafiq Ahmad Shah and Mohammad Hussain Fazili were also brought there “whom I did not know till that time”.
After 45 days, Tariq was shifted to Delhi’s Tihar jail where he was put under 24 hour camera surveillance.
“Ravi Shankar was one of the officers investigating Delhi blast case. He was the first person who told me that I was innocent and condemned the treatment meted out to me,” he said.
“Not only was I brutally tortured but they also used to hurt my religious sentiment which I don’t want to share to upset my community more,” he added.
Tariq said Shankar had realized that he was implicated in fabricated case. “He condemned the treatment meted out to us and conveyed to the commissioner the brutal treatment we used to face. They were bringing criminals out of simple and innocent people,” he said.
Tariq, who had a good track record of 8 years working with Johnson & Johnson company, said: “My manager came to Delhi and informed the officers at the special cell that I was five-time gold medalist at all India level completion in the company for my best performance.”
On the day of his arrest, Tariq said, he had made a promise to his wife which he could keep only after 12 years.
“The day I was detained, my wife Ruqaya called me and told me she is waiting for me at a clinic. She had an appointment with a doctor as she was expecting. I promised her to see her soon and asked her to wait there but it took me 12 years to keep my promise. Is that justice?”
After some months, his wife delivered a baby girl.
Tariq said it took him 12 long years to come home and meet his wife and daughter Fatima.
“I must say that neither did I get justice nor those people who were killed in those blasts,” he said.
He said those who framed him in fabricated case were given awards on January 26, which he said was again injustice.
He also talked about the ordeal of his family all these years.
“The biggest loss for me was the death of my father-in-law who always supported me and did not leave any stone unturned to prove my innocence,” he said.
He said the evidence presented in the court against him has been proved baseless. “Nothing was proved against me and nothing was recovered from my possession.”
Tariq said the case was deliberately shifted from one agency to another to stretch his punishment.
“I was also booked in money laundering case by showing my five years account transaction which includes my salary which used to come from Singapore to punish me more,” he said.
He said his heart goes out for those killed by forces in Kashmir these years. “Many daughters and sons of the soil also lost their eyes which is saddening,” he said.
