Ajay wrote:
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Police get flak for 'Arabic' scarves of blast suspects
Tue, Sep 23 02:54 AM
The Delhi Police is being severely criticised for covering the faces
of the three blast suspects-Saqib Nisar, Mohd Shakeel and Zia ur
Rehman- with 'Arabic' scarves with many terming the act as "partisan"
and "an attempt on the police's part to hint at a link between Islam
and terror".
The police usually covers the faces of criminals, whose identity
cannot be revealed, with a towel or a black cloth. However, when the
three suspects were produced in court yesterday, their faces were
covered with scarves usually sported by imams and religious leaders of
the Muslim community.
Senior Congress leader Salman Khursheed told The Indian Express that
such depiction was "unfortunate and created an impression of a
stereotype at a time when images flashed by the media was being
closely followed by the public".
Islamic scholar Dr Khwaja Iftekhar Ahmad, too, termed the use of the
scarves as "offending". "It appears to be a design to malign the whole
Muslim community and the Arab world. Making criminals wear such a
scarf sends out a wrong message to other religions as well," added Ahmad.
The Delhi Police, however, maintained that it had no code of conduct
as far as covering the faces of suspects go. "We do provide cloth to
suspects to cover their faces with. But there is no code of conduct
for it as such. The cloth could be red, black or white," said Delhi
Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat.
"A terrorist should be severely punished. But to depict a suspect in a
way that can be recognised as 'Muslim' is wrong. This scarf is usually
slung on the shoulder or used to cover the head during prayers," says
Firoz Bakht Ahmed, who runs an NGO, Friends for Education, and teaches
in Modern School, Barakhamba Road.
Interestingly, police had said that Indian Mujahideen mastermind Atif
had instructed his companions to remain without beard and dress in
modern clothes in order to escape a "typically Muslim look".
The Urdu Press has also lashed out at the Delhi Police for this. The
Hindustan Express has carried an editorial, 'Dilli Police Ka Arbi
Roomal', criticising the police's action in its Monday edition.
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"Ours is a battle not for wealth or for power.
It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of
human personality."
- Dr BR Ambedkar
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