Victim of NOIDA hate crime Kazeem Ahmad Sherwani moves Supreme Court seeking action against accused, erring police officers

A petition has been filed before the Supreme Court by 62-year-old Kazeem Ahmad Sherwani who was the victim of an alleged hate crime in July this year, seeking action against those who tortured him and the police officers who refused to take action (Kazeem Ajmad Sherwani v. State of Uttar Pradesh)..Sherwani was abused and tortured by a group of individuals who had offered him a ride, while he was waiting to catch a bus in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.Besides seeking prosecution of the accused and departmental proceedings against Station House Officer of Police Station Sector 37, Gautam Buddh Nagar and Commissioner of Police, Gautam Buddh Nagar, the plea also sought directions to the State of Uttar Pradesh to frame a victim compensation scheme..A Bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and CT Ravikumar said that similar petitions are being heard by a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) and ordered that the matter be listed before the CJI on December 3..Sherwani in his plea, submitted that he is "visibly muslim" as he keeps a beard,wears a Muslim cap and also dresses in a way that makes his identity as a religious Muslim man very obvious. He had gotten into a car after a group of individuals offered him a ride. While he was in the car, he was attacked, called a Mullah and other derogatory words related to his religious identity, told that mullahs had no right to remain in this country, stripped and humiliated about his beard and circumcision, looted of what money he had and finally thrown out of the car after 15 long minutes, the plea said.He initially went to police station at Sector 37 of Gautam Buddh Nagar and narrated the ordeal but they refused to take down his complaint or offer any medical help. He later went to his niece's house in Okhla to get medical help.Later, the Police visited him after new reports of the incident surfaced, but they allegedly declared that this was not a hate crime. They did not take down his complaint and urged him and his family to not "needlessly politicise" the matter..The petitioner contended that he had no recourse but to approach the top court as his requests to the police and the National Human Rights Commission have so far not yielded any concrete results. "Hence, the present petition has been filed seeking redressal of his fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19, 21 and 25 from this Hon'ble Court and also seeking compliance of orders of this Hon’ble Court in Tehseen Poonawala v Union of India, initiation of punitive measures contemplated therein, as well as compensation from the State of Uttar Pradesh," the plea said..The petition has been preferred claiming that the actions of the police are seriously wanting on the following two groundsThey breach a constitutional 'duty of care' with respect to hate crimes. The police have not acted in accordance with law by which they are required to record the complaint promptly as narrated by the victim, and then conduct a fair investigation, which is cognisant of fundamental rights under Articles 14 and 21. They breach the police’s general and statutory 'duty of care’. It is settled law that fair trial includes the right to a fair and unbiased investigation as envisaged under Article 20 and 21 of the Constitution.Further it was argued that there has also been a clear violation of Article 25 of the Indian Constitution, which allows for freedom of conscience and the freedom to profess, propagate, and practice any religion of one’s choice.The plea placed reliance on the judgment of the Supreme Court in Tehseen S Poonavalla in which the top court had recognised the dangers of targeted violence, and the immediate steps that need to be taken to prevent, and punish such crimes.Pertinently, it was also pointed out that the court had directed that action must be taken for ‘failure to act’ by the police, therefore making way for individual criminal responsibility for erring police officials for acts of ‘omission or commission’.