With the Bajrang Dal now demanding an inquiry and threatening street protests, the Ujjain police on Sunday called a few of the activists to Bhairavgarh police station, and subjected them to 12 hours of questioning.
It is not possible under the law to put the released activists back into jail, as is being demanded by the Bajrang Dal. Even their questioning was against the rules. The state Jail Department has now set up a committee to take a fresh look at the rules to broaden their scope.
Every January 26 and August 15, Madhya Pradesh releases prisoners who have served at least half of their terms and demonstrated good conduct in prison. On January 26, acting on a government circular, the administration of Khachrod sub-jail in Ujjain district released Jadil Parwaj, Aiyaz Riyaz Ahmed, Akbar Afzal Khan, Mehruddin Shaikh and Irshad Ali. The five men were convicted as recently as January 12 for “anti-national activities” by an Additional Sessions Judge who sentenced them to terms of between one year and five years, to run concurrently.
The men have, however, been in custody since March 31, 2008, when the Unhel police arrested them after “anti-national literature” and weapons were allegedly found on them. On January 26, they had spent over 33 months in jail, and were eligible for release.
This is probably the first time that SIMI activists have been released in this manner in Madhya Pradesh. DG (Jail) V K Pawar, however, told The Indian Express that there was no question of re-arresting the five men. The state legal department vets the government circular before it is sent to jails ahead of January 26 and August 15 every year, he said.
Ujjain SP Satish Saxena said two released SIMI activists were put through “routine” questioning on Sunday. They were asked where they would live henceforth, and what they would do for a living. The police also collected information on their visitors during their time in jail. The police would continue to monitor their activities, Saxena said.
