New Delhi: Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde yesterday asked all chief ministers to ensure that no innocent Muslim is arrested in the name of fighting terror, as the BJP termed this against secularism and demanded he be “sacked”.
In a letter to chief ministers, the home minister said strict and prompt action should be taken against erring police officers when malafide arrests are made of any member of a minority community.
“Some of the minority youth have started feeling that they are deliberately targeted and deprived their basis rights,” he wrote in his letter that was made public. “Government has to ensure that no innocent person is subjected to undue harassment,” he said.
The home minister said a person wrongfully arrested should be released immediately and suitably compensated and rehabilitated to join the mainstream. He called upon the state governments to constitute special courts for trial of terror-related cases and give priority to terror cases over other pending cases.
Minority Affairs Minister K Rahman Khan is among the Congress leaders who expressed concern over wrongful arrests of Muslim youths in terror cases.
But the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the order should be “withdrawn” as it against secularism. BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu demanded that Shinde should immediately withdraw the order and apologise to the nation.
IANS
