Hyderabad:
The Andhra Pradesh government has come forward to pay compensation to 60 people after the National Minorities Commission observed that they were targeted by the state police purely on communal grounds. NDTV's Uma Sudhir met Syed Imran, who was among the first young men to be picked up after the Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad in 2007. He was confined illegally, tortured and wrongly implicated and his life turned into a nightmare. Imran was subsequently acquitted and yet he has not been shortlisted for the compensation.
"They have given third degree torture. I was given electric shock in private parts. I can't tell you how painful it was," reveals Imran.
The family too suffered ignominy and was ostracised. Imran lost his job and was rusticated from his college.
"They said for 10 years I trained in Pakistan. I was 22 then. Did I run away from home when I was 12? I passed tenth class from Kendirya Vidyalaya and went to Sultan Uloom college in the city. I have never gone out of Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh, where is Pakistan?" said Imran.
After 18 months in jail, Imran was acquitted. He struggled to get back to college and thanks to his resilience and positive spirit, he now holds a B.Tech degree. But his past is still haunting his future.
"I am still facing problems. I can't find a job. Wherever I go, police come for inquiry. What do you want from me. I am a normal person, wanting to lead a normal life. You trouble me so much that you want me to become a terrorist? I want to know why my name is not on that list of those to be paid compensation," said Imran.
"Stigma is attached to their life. They are not getting married or employment. They were false cases. It ruined their life profile," said Rafat Ali, Secretary, Minorities Department.
The irony is that even though Syed Imran's name has been cleared and recommended by a 3-member committee of secretaries, his name does not figure even in the waiting list of those to be awarded compensation by the government. The government's attempt to correct a wrong is once again going wrong perhaps.