Today is the 11th anniversary of that horrible night. I still remember the night of 2 April 2001 when a group of policemen attached to the Daryaganj police station arrived at our Buddhist Temple located near Rajghat, New Delhi and unleashed terror on us. All the inmates were beaten in the temple premises, herded into waiting police vehicles and auto-rickshaws, taken to the Daryaganj police station and detained for about six hours and beaten again. I was slapped hard in the right ear by a police officer, resulting in hearing loss accompanied with pain for about 30 days. It’s been eleven years now. The hearing problem was restored, so was the pain. Although the pain had gone, it remained stamped into my mind, forever.
It was a horrific night for all of us.
Next day the incident was reported in a few dailies but in parts. Today, I would like to tell what exactly happened that night.
A cricket match was to be played between India and Australia, if I remember correctly, on 3 April 2001. So, we decided to hire a television on rent to watch the cricket match the next day. At around 8.30 pm, three of the inmates namely Charu Jeevan Chakma, Bijoy Talukdar and Rajib Chakma went to the nearby market in a slum area to hire the television. The owner was not present and they were asked to wait for some time. As they were waiting sitting in a bench all of a sudden a person came from the back and dragged Charu Jeevan Chakma by his hair and taken inside the adjacent police chowki (police post) without any rhyme or reason and closed the door. For a moment, the two other were clueless as to what happened. They waited for him to come back for about 15 minutes. As he did not return they informed the incident to the inmates of the temple on telephone fearing for his safety.
Accordingly, we, about 8-9 inmates, went there to see what happened. There were about 24-25 inmates in the temple on that day. Some of them were school students who came after their schools were closed for vacation. As we were being told about the details of the incident, Charu Jeevan Chakma came out running from the back door of the police chowki. In the meanwhile, one person in plain-clothe also came out from the front door. Charu Jeevan Chakma was short of breath and with great difficulty he somehow managed to tell that he was badly beaten up. He immediately fell down on the ground unconscious. At this, some of the inmates asked the plain-clothed person as to what he did with Charu Jeevan Chakma. However, instead of answering he pushed the inmates using abusive words. At this behavior, some of the inmates got infuriated and thrashed him. There was another person in plain-clothe who was running away from the scene. But, he was caught and thrashed. Both of them were in inebriated state. Later, the inmates called up the police control room and handed over the duo to the police. The police also took Charu Jeevan Chakma along with them for treatment.
Afterwards we came back to the temple, while two inmates went to the hospital to attend Charu Jeevan Chakma.
It was around 9.30 pm, we were sitting in one of the rooms of the temple and about to take our dinner. Suddenly, we heard a big knock on the door and one pistol-toting police officer entered the room and said “All of you have been surrounded by special force and it would be good if you all surrender to us.” Few more policemen entered the room. We were taken aback and had no time even to react. The policemen started quizzing all of us. “Set kaha hai”, questioned the police officer. We could not understood what he was exactly saying but thought that he must be inquiring about the owner of the house. We told him that this is not a house but a temple. He again repeated the question in a louder tone. One of the inmates asked him as to what he was exactly referring to. This infuriated the police officer and he slapped the inmate and screamed “Ek to police walo ko haat utathe ho aur set ke bare me pata nahi hain” (First you beat up the policemen and now you have no idea about the set). Then a policeman standing behind the police officer said that we have beaten up the Station House Officer (SHO) of Daryaganj police station and a constable and the SHO has lost the wireless set.
We told them that we have no idea about the wireless set. But, the policemen insisted that the wireless set was in our custody. As we could not give the wireless set they started beating us. Some were slapped while some were hit with batons and cricket bats and stumps. I was standing near the door when the police officer slapped me hard in the right ear. We were ordered to stand in a queue and our shoes and sandals were checked. The owners of shoes/sandals where sand/dust/mud were found were beaten up on the charge that they were present when the two policemen were thrashed. The policemen smashed everything that came their way. The telephone directory book was also torn into pieces.
After about 30 minutes of beating and questioning, we were dragged to the waiting police vehicles and auto rickshaws and taken to the Daryaganj police station. Only the monks who were sleeping in another room and an inmate who was ill were spared. Few others were not present at that time.
I was dragged into an auto rickshaw along with two others. The moment we got down at the gate of the police station we are greeted with punches and kicks. We were confined in a small transit room. In all 19 inmates including four minors were confined in the room which is too small that there was hardly space for sitting in the floor. I also noticed Charu Jeevan Chakma in the group. I am clueless as to how he was brought to the police station from the hospital. We were virtually sitting on our heels. The main door was closed and there was no ventilation in the room either. The room had no ceiling fan and we all were sweating hard.
I was squatting in the front row along with Charu Jeevan Chakma and Rajib Chakma. So, every time a policeman comes inside the room we three were subjected to beating including being hit with the elbow on our backs. Charu Jeevan Chakma was particularly targeted. These went on at regular intervals. Further, Charu Jeevan Chakma was taken to a different room a couple of times for questioning about the thrashing of the two policemen and the lost of the wireless set. He was subjected to beating when he answered in the negative.
Later, Charu Jeevan Chakma was again taken to another room for questioning. Few minutes later, all of us were also taken to the same room. An officer was present in the room and questioning the whereabouts of the lost wireless set from all of us one by one. Not happy with our answers some of the policemen present in the room started threatening us that if we do not tell the whereabouts of the wireless set Charu Jeevan Chakma will be shot dead in the bank of Yamuna and they will report that he was killed in an encounter. I was scared to hear that. After the questioning and threat we were again confined to the transit room.
For the next few minutes we three were again subjected to beating by different policemen who entered the room. Thereafter, no policemen came inside the room for a long time. We were all hungry and thirsty. The hot and humidity of the room made our condition miserable. Out of fear we could not even ask for water. Fortunately, the door was not locked from outside this time. Unable to bear the thirst, two detainees went outside in search of water. We all followed suit and came out of the room. We met a policeman who showed us the water tape. After drinking water as we were returning back we met few more policemen. They were asking as to why we were brought to the police station. "We have just come for the night shift and the duty of all the policemen previously present ended and they returned home, said a policeman.
In the meantime, a lawyer arrived at the police station and released us. Before being released we were all asked to write our names and sign in a register. A clock in a wall of the police station reads the time as 3 am in the morning.
On 3 April 2001, it was learnt the inmate who was spared due to his ill health telephoned one person who was working with a human rights organization. He had arranged the lawyer for our release. We also learnt that the wireless set was found by the police on the same night near the police chowki while we were still being detained. We further learnt that the medical tests for detection of alcohol were not conducted on the two policemen identified as Sardool Singh (SHO) and constable Rajan who had beaten up Charu Jeevan Chakma at the police chowki to protect them.
Subsequently, we were asked to present before a senior police officer near Kamala Market to record our statements. Charu Jeevan Chakma, Bijoy Talukdar and Rajib Chakma were summoned at regular interval in connection with the case.
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