Maryam was six—the youngest of three siblings—when her father, Khalid Saifi, was arrested following the sectarian violence in northeast Delhi in February 2020. The violence took place against the backdrop of months of protests led by Muslim women at several sites across the national capital and in the country, against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the proposed updates to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR). Maryam’s mother Nargis recalls the day as the beginning of “a dark, endless night” that has been written into their fates. “Memories of her father have begun to blur in Maryam’s mind,” Nargis says. The child can only remember how he looks through photographs and videos. When Nargis asks her husband, now 45, in Delhi’s Tihar jail to tell her what “freedom” means to him, he says: “The liberty to watch my children grow up.”
At his first appearance in court, Saifi was on a wheelchair, with both his legs in bandages. He had been tortured in police custody and has been denied bail so far. FIR 59/2020, in which Saifi is an accused, is based on an alleged “conspiracy” to orchestrate the February 2020 violence at the peak of the women-led protests against the legislations that were criticised as being discriminatory against Muslims. It invokes sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), which inverts the judicial principle of “bail is the rule, jail is an exception”. Among Saifi’s seventeen co-accused, only two are Hindus. There were 38 Muslims among the 53 people killed in the violence that raged from February 23 to 26, 2020. Saifi, who was once full of joie de vivre and loved food and travel, now pines only for some time with his family. When he misses his favourite dishes, he asks Nargis to have them—“on my behalf, so I’m content”.
Reporter: Apeksha Priyadarshini
Producer: Divya Tiwari
#CAA #UAPA #KhalidSaifi #Muslims #Muslim #CitizenshipAmendmentAct #NationalRegisterofCitizens #UnlawfulActivitiesPreventionAct #Protest
At his first appearance in court, Saifi was on a wheelchair, with both his legs in bandages. He had been tortured in police custody and has been denied bail so far. FIR 59/2020, in which Saifi is an accused, is based on an alleged “conspiracy” to orchestrate the February 2020 violence at the peak of the women-led protests against the legislations that were criticised as being discriminatory against Muslims. It invokes sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), which inverts the judicial principle of “bail is the rule, jail is an exception”. Among Saifi’s seventeen co-accused, only two are Hindus. There were 38 Muslims among the 53 people killed in the violence that raged from February 23 to 26, 2020. Saifi, who was once full of joie de vivre and loved food and travel, now pines only for some time with his family. When he misses his favourite dishes, he asks Nargis to have them—“on my behalf, so I’m content”.
Reporter: Apeksha Priyadarshini
Producer: Divya Tiwari
#CAA #UAPA #KhalidSaifi #Muslims #Muslim #CitizenshipAmendmentAct #NationalRegisterofCitizens #UnlawfulActivitiesPreventionAct #Protest
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NewsTranscript
00:30We are still in jail, but there is nothing in this case.
00:33There is no witness.
00:35No police officer has any evidence.
00:38There is only waiting and a dark night has been written in our lives
00:43whose dawn is not even visible around us.
00:49After going around the court again and again, I have understood that
00:55it is not so easy to listen to a common man.
00:59Sometimes there is no judge, sometimes there is no government lawyer.
01:03It has been two years since our hearing in the High Court has not started yet.
01:09Since 2014, there has been a lot of mob lynching and strange incidents.
01:15We did not want him to be in any kind of trouble.
01:19Still, he convinced us that I will go for a while, I will come back.
01:25This is how he started living there.
01:27He started living there at night as well.
01:29We used to meet him and come.
01:32He used to come home only to change his clothes and take a bath.
01:36When Khalid was arrested, my younger daughter was 6 years old.
01:41Today she is 10 years old. She will be 11 years old.
01:45So, somewhere there are so many questions in the minds of the children
01:49which they are not able to share with everyone.
01:51They talk to each other.
01:53When will my father come back?
01:55Last time we went to Goa.
02:00Khalid made a lot of videos then.
02:03In those videos, Maryam looks for her happiness, for her father.
02:10Daily Rites started in February.
02:14I was studying my BDS at that time.
02:18My dad was having a business in Chand Bagh area.
02:22At the time of protest, he was not doing anything.
02:25But there is a same passage for going outside from that area and entering the area.
02:31So, he was just passing.
02:33There was so much ruckus in that area at that time.
02:38Everyone was hitting each other and burning the substances or burning the buildings there.
02:46So, he was there for protecting himself and his business
02:50plus his stocks and his staff members.
02:54He was protecting them.
02:56I don't know what happened at that time.
03:00Police came and just investigated him and arrested him for this reason.
03:07When I came to know that my father has been arrested under UAPA,
03:12there was some discrimination.
03:15They took everything.
03:18Whether it was about religion or just to show off.
03:24But this thing started coming in everything.
03:26People started moving away that he is a terrorist.
03:28If we talk about it, who knows the same thing will happen to us.
03:32People used to speak in front of the house.
03:34There were even issues on small things.
03:37Why have you parked the car, you are terrorists.
03:40Things like this used to happen.
03:42My younger sister was studying in school at that time.
03:46There were a lot of issues with her fees.
03:48She was asked to pay the fees together or we won't let her study further.
03:58We are always hopeful that she will get a bail.
04:02When many women's hopes are shattered, it hurts a lot.
04:10We also feel it and they feel it more than us.
04:13Because they are not tolerating it.
04:15My father is actually a strong hearted person.
04:19If we try to console him or tell him something, he consoles us back.
04:25That there is no need to worry.
04:31After his arrest, my younger son had to leave his studies.
04:38Because his father's work was already stopped.
04:43So he had to leave his studies and take care of his work.
04:54We were also getting money from the government.
04:57But in the jail?
04:59No.
05:01They are doing it there.
05:03No, they are taking care of their own expenses.
05:06They are doing it to everyone.
05:08Like the soap that their family is not sending.
05:10You give, you give, you give.
05:12I send 5,000 rupees a day.
05:14All our expenses are our expenses.
05:19As a mother, I always pray for her.
05:26When I see her face, I feel that I am getting the courage to live.
05:33That's why I go to the court again and again to meet her.
05:37When I see her face, I feel at peace.
05:41When I see her smiling, I feel at peace.
05:44No matter how much pain she is in.
05:46I know that she is going through a lot in jail right now.
05:49But when I see her smiling, I feel at peace.
05:54If she can smile in this situation,
05:57I can also try to lead a normal life.