Zulfiqar Khan ‘writes’ to children from Burail Jail!

CHANDIGARH: Nearly a month and a half after the arrest of Zulfiqar Khan, director of Theatre Age, an NGO, in a case of alleged “unnatural sex” with several children enrolled with the NGO, a letter, “purportedly” written and signed by him from Burail Jail to one of the complainants, has landed with the Chandigarh Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

Zulfiqar Khan

Aarti Kapur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 1

Nearly a month and a half after the arrest of Zulfiqar Khan, director of Theatre Age, an NGO, in a case of alleged “unnatural sex” with several children enrolled with the NGO, a letter, “purportedly” written and signed by him from Burail Jail to one of the complainants, has landed with the Chandigarh Commission for Protection of Child Rights.

In the letter, along with a covering note (written in Hindi), sent through WhatsApp, Zulfiqar has urged the four complainants to change their mind while giving further statements in the case. It was on the statement of the four complainants that the police had booked Zulfiqar under Section 377 of the IPC and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

Though the letter had been forwarded on August 17 at 7.05 pm from the mobile number of a close associate of Zulfiqar to one of the complainants, the sender called up the recipient of the letter to forward the same to his three other associates. The statements of the four children and their stand during the course of the trial are crucial to the outcome of the case. The Chandigarh Police are yet to file a chargesheet in the case.

Devi Sirohi, chairperson of the Chandigarh Commission for Protection of Child Rights, confirmed that the complainants had approached the commission with the letter and had sought help. The complainants had provided the number (9814660944) from which the letter was sent and had also attached a copy of the letter, which wassigned by Zulfiqar on August 1, 2015.

The complainants are worried over how their identity has been revealed to the person who forwarded the letter on their mobile. They have requested the commission to intervene and take action against the person. One of the complainants said on condition of anonymity that it was surprising how Zulfiqar managed to send a handwritten letter from jail through his relative.