Jail authorities terrorised, humiliated MP Rashid: AIP

Awami Itihaad Party (AIP) of jailed Lok Sabha MP Engineer Rashid on Wednesday alleged there is “a deliberate assault on the dignity” of its president Rashid inside Tihar Jail No. 3.

The party stated the “jail authorities terrorised and humiliated” Rashid on September 18 and 19.

A statement by the party said the incident took place after “he refused to withdraw a complaint against the jail superintendent for subjecting inmates to horror, humiliation and torture over the past month.”

AIP chief spokesperson Inam Un Nabi, in a statement, said after “encouraging a murderous assault” on Rashid by two notorious inmates on August 31, the situation worsened when “Rashid Sahab stood firm and refused to withdraw his complaint. Instead of forwarding the complaint to higher authorities as required by law, the superintendent made every attempt to bury it.”

The party said that on September 16, Rashid’s legal counsel, advocate Hasnain Khwaja, was “deliberately denied” a meeting with him.

“The jail superintendent kept Khwaja waiting from 3 pm to 4:40 pm only to prevent Rashid from narrating the developments to his lawyer. When the lawyer finally left, humiliated and empty-handed, it became evident that authorities were trying to cover up their misconduct,” he said.

Nabi said “matters escalated” on the morning of September 17 when Rashid declined to meet the jail superintendent “who claims to be a close relative of Delhi CM Rekha Gupta.”

“Hurt, humiliated and disturbed, Rashid refused to meet the jail superintendent. In retaliation, on September 18, around half a dozen jail officials stormed his cell without even removing their shoes, pressuring him for hours to vacate it immediately under the pretext of a transfer order,” he stated.

The party said despite Rashid’s request “that packing his belongings late in the evening was impossible, officials kept harassing him till 8 pm.” “The next morning, September 19, he was forcibly shifted from the cell without being allowed breakfast or even morning prayers. This is nothing but institutionalised harassment,” Nabi said.

The party has called for “an independent probe by a competent authority, NHRC or a retired judge into the entire episode” and warned of serious consequences if it continues “bulldozing the self-respect and legitimate rights of Engineer Rashid and other Kashmiri inmates.”