This is indeed a full circle. And it is not ironical at all. One of the accused in fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh case in Gujarat told a sessions court that IG (Prisons) Keshav Kumar intends to kill him in a staged encounter.
And wondering who said this. This is none other than suspended DySP NK Amin. This is the same person accused in the custodial death of Lt Col Pratap Save in Dehri village of Umargaon in south Gujarat in the year 2000.
Save was an environment activist and was fighting against the government's decision to build a private port near Umargaon. I went to Save’s home just as the protests were intensifying and he said the fight was not for him but for the georgraphy and livelihood of fishermen.
The government sent Amin and he was killed in custody. No body remembers this incident, not even the media but I still remember when I called Amin for a reaction to this allegation by the retired army officer’s family that Amin was responsible for Save’s death.
He banged the phone saying he doesn’t talk to all and sundry journalists since he could not fathom the name of the foreign organization that I represented. While in Umergaon, I happened to meet him and he sarcastically laughed at me indicating that at one stroke the entire protest was over.
The vicious circle is not haunting him as he is in the jail being accused and is complaining that he may be killed. I couldn’t help looking up at the sky in disbelief as if I was watching a pot boiler movie of natural justice.
In an affidavit before court, alleging torture at the behest of the IPS officer, Amin has sought protection from court. Amin claimed that a sub-jailer had thrashed him on December 6 and he was not given medical treatment for four days.
When he sent a complaint against Kumar to Sabarmati police station, the concerned officer tore the papers maintaining he should route his complaint through jail authorities only.
What a co-incidence!
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