20-year-old produced before executive magistrate; his kin sign sureties even as police say his WhatsApp status was not a crime.
Published Oct 13, 2023 | 5:58 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 13, 2023 | 6:08 PM
The WhatsApp status message of Alam Basha on Palestine.
After his harrowing experience with the police for a WhatsApp status that led to his detainment, involvement of community leaders and signing “sureties”, a 20-year-old man in Karnataka still doesn’t have an answer for his question: “What was my mistake?”
The Karnataka police detained a 20-year-old man from Hosapete town for seven hours for posting a WhatsApp status with a picture of war-torn Palestine with the wordings — We Stand with Palestine — Palestine Zindabad.
The police not only kept Alam Basha, a resident of Hosapete, in their custody but also produced him before an executive magistrate, who obtained sureties from the kin of the youth.
Though the senior police officials maintained that there was no case registered against Basha, they admitted that he was detained, and an inquiry was initiated against him as a preventive measure.
However, the police failed to explain what was Basha’s crime.
“It was around 11 am on Thursday (12 October) when I was at the District Minorities Office in Hosapete town, that the police arrived and took me to the Hosapete Town police station,” Basha told South First.
Alam Basha, the 20-year-old from Hospete who got into trouble for supporting Palestine. (Supplied)
On 26 September, Basha had joined the District Minorities Office as an attender.
“They (police) took me to the station, and a police inspector clicked my picture using his phone. When I asked him what my mistake was, the inspector told me that it was ‘nothing major’,” said Basha.
“The inspector then deleted all my status messages mentioning Palestine and checked if there were any other such messages on my phone,” he added.
“The inspector then said that they will take me to the Tehsildar office where I will have to sign a letter apologising for my deed and state that I will not repeat this in future,” said Basha.
“I was made to sit in the police station until 6 pm after which my colleagues, elders from the community, and the local mosque came to the police station and requested the inspector to let me go,” he said.
“One of my uncles and a relative gave sureties for me to the Tehsildar even though I had committed no crime,” said Basha.
Basha had dropped out of the pre-university course in arts stream in the first-year and joined the District Minorities Office as he wanted to earn. His father runs an eatery in Hosapete town.
“I am a proud Indian. I had just posted a WhatsApp status on my phone praying for the Palestinians. It’s a prayer and I was praying for the Muslims in Palestine,” said Basha.
“I was wondering what anti-national activity have I committed — was unsure of what my mistake was. There were Palestinian flags in my post and the wordings were ‘Palestinian Zindabad’ and ‘Let the Almighty help the Palestinians’,” said Basha.
When South First contacted the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of Hosapete Manjunath, he said that there was neither a case registered, nor anyone taken into custody.
He said that it was all fake news and someone from Bengaluru had posted it on the social media and it had gone viral.
Manjunath elaborated that there was this youngster who had posted WhatsApp status with the Palestinian flag and as this created a buzz in the town; seniors from his community had come by and warned him and the matter was resolved.
When asked if Basha had been arrested, the Superintendent of Police (SP) Vijayanagar district Shrihari Babu BL said, “No. We have not arrested him. We have taken him in custody for inquiry and produced him before the executive magistrate. It’s not a case, it’s a preventive measure.”
Meanwhile, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ballari Range Lokesh Kumar seconded Babu. “It was not a crime. There was no case registered. We have taken him for inquiry and produced before the executive magistrate as a preventive measure and let him off,” said Kumar.
