Afzal Guru hanging: Delhi police under fire for detaining journalist, family

Why did the Delhi police overstep their boundaries and detain senior journalist Iftikhar Gilani in an apartment for hours following the execution of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru? The action prompted a wave of criticism of the Delhi police, with many including Press council Chairman, Justice Katju calling for strict action to be taken against the officers responsible for sanctioning and detaining him. [caption id=“attachment_620342” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Mr Gilani[/caption] Gilani, is the son-in-law of Kashmiri separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani but has publicly distanced himself from his politics. Seperatist leaders from Jammu and Kashmir, who were present in Delhi, had been placed under house arrest after news of the hanging of Afzal Guru on 9 February. A curfew had also been imposed in Jammu and Kashmir with media like television and mobile internet also being blacked out. The journalist was picked up by plainclothes policemen from the special cell of the Delhi police, and detained inside a flat for several hours on Saturday, while his children were detained inside their home. The Hindu quoted Mr Gilani as saying, “After 15 minutes, I saw they were escorting my wife also to this flat. I got worried, my school-going children were alone in my house. I repeatedly asked them why they are detaining me. All the time, they were quite rude, threatening and warning me of dire consequences… After five hours, an officer type person came and shouted my name and then announced, ‘You are free and you can leave this house’ … When I reached my home, some 7-8 unknown people were there in the drawing room and living room and they had kept my children locked in the bedroom… [They] were terrified.’’ In a blog post, Justice Katju reproduced a letter he wrote to the Home Secretary, in which he condemned the ‘outrageous’ behaviour of the officers in question, and said they were “prime facie guilty of serious crimes under sections 341/342, as well as other provisions of the Indian Penal Code and are also guilty of gross and blatant abuse of their powers.” He has called for the immediate filing of a charge sheet against those responsible, and also called for any surveillance on Gilani to be stopped with immediate effect. Meanwhile the Editors Guild of India also condemned Gilani’s detention saying the Delhi Police owed him an apology. “The police gave no reason for their unwarranted action. It is a matter of relief that he was released after protests by various journalist bodies and individual journalists, and the resultant intervention by the ministry of home affairs,” a statement issued by the body stated. The Delhi police have not issued a statement with regard to the incident as yet.