Assertion that Gujarat Police didn't have ex-SIMI chief's address for 19 years 'laughable'

By A Representative
Calling the Gujarat Police action of issuing non-bailable warrant against the banned Students' Islamic Movement of India's (SIMI's) ex-president Shahid Badar Falahi and taking him to Gujarat without completing legal formalities in a 19-year-old lawsuit an attempt to "plot communal division", UP civil rights organization Rihai Manch said, it is "a laughable argument that the Gujarat Police did not know about Shahid Badar's address all these years."
"One of the most talked about cases of those days, despite the ban on SIMI which received a lot of media coverage, including Shahid Badar's four-year imprisonment, the Gujarat Police action raises questions about intelligence functioning of the police department", Rihai Manch said in a statement.
According to Rajiv Yadav of the civil rights group, "Shahid Badar has been running his clinic in his village since about 2007 as also in Azamgarh town for the last five years and has been continuously talking to the media. In this era of electronic technology, once Google is done, one can get complete information about Shahid Badar."
He adds, "In such a situation, the statement of the Gujarat Police that they came to Azamgarh three times but could not get any information about Shahid Badar or his village is unbelievable. At the same time, the question arises how the Gujarat Police is taking such action without informing the state administration."

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