Arrest and Torture of Syed Geelani

We the undersigned are alarmed at the tendentious reporting on the alleged involvement of Syed Abdul Rehman Geelani in the December 13 attack on the Indian parliament. In contrast the media has not carried his side of the story. As it is having been charged under POTO an innocent person has very little chance of escaping destruction of his/her life and liberty.

In a number of visits by several teachers and civil rights activists to Syed Abdul Rehman Geelani in Tihar jail he has insisted that he is innocent of the charges levelled against him. He was picked up on the day of the incident from outside the Khalsa college and taken to some farmhouse where he was stripped and hung upside down, then beaten and had the filthiest communal abuse hurled at him. During the third degree that he was subjected to, he was made to sign on blank papers as well as a statement that he was not tortured. When he was presented before the magistrate in his chamber several high-ranking police officers were present. He chose to keep quiet when asked whether he was maltreated fearing further physical abuse. However, he refused to make any 'confession' since he maintained he was innocent. He told us that when he asked one of the officers who was interrogating him what was his crime he was told "you are educated". We believe Geelani's guilt is that he is an educated Kashmiri Muslim.