Gujarat police totally failed slain RTI activist Nadeem Saiyed

The story of activist Nadeem Saiyed's murder and the events preceding it seem like a '80s action movie script, with a slight twist. Injustice is being meted out to citizens of an area. An average victim (if it is a movie it would be someone like Mithun Chakraborty or Anil Kapoor; in real life it is a Nadeem Saiyed) who articulates the injustice and complains to the police.

As in the movies, the bad guys (in this case a gangster named Mushir) are in cahoots with the police. The information is leaked to the gangsters. The villains (in this case a punter of gang leader Mushir Bachchha, called Kalu Gardan) accompanied by a few ruffians, launches in broad daylight, an armed attack on the whistleblower at a crowded marketplace (Juhapura crossroads).

Now here's the twist - in reel life, the average citizen turned whistleblower would miraculously turn superhero and either fight back the armed attack or survive the injuries to emerge a messiah of the mohallah.

In real life, the average citizen dies a cruel death. As 30-something Saiyed died on Saturday morning.

Gujarat police failed to protect their informer, the whistleblower of Juhapura who raised his voice against the injustice meted out to citizens by hoodlums, patronized heavily by the establishment. He was an RTI activist and a crucial witness in the Naroda Patiya case of the 2002 post-Godhra riots. The threat to his life was identified and 24-hour police protection was provided since last two years. Yet he was brutally killed amidst a crowd of 200, at a distance of 100 meters from Juhapura police chowki hosting cops armed with guns. What does this say about our police?

Let me give you some more insight into the plot. In 2008, Nadeem had brought to the notice of concerned authorities the illicit operation of food laaris (stalls) on some streets of Juhapura, which in addition to serving illegal beef, were encroachments on the road to such an extent that it was difficult for vehicles to pass.

He was beaten up black and blue, bed-ridden for better part of a year. He filed a case under section 307, attempt to murder against the goondas. The prime accused, a gangster named Mushir Bachha has been 'absconding' (sources claim he is in Dubai).

The buzz is that Mushir's ‘understanding' with the police is excellent… and the rest is left to interpretation.

No action was taken against the illegal food stalls, they continue to operate even today with impunity; but Nadeem was given an armed bodyguard by the police. The culprits were trying to negotiate with Nadeem to withdraw the complaint, but our social activist was adamant. No surprise then, that it were members of the same gang who killed Nadeem on Saturday morning.

There's more to prove police's apathy. In the last week of October when the city was celebrating Diwali, transfer of illegal beef was apprehended by police. The cops were attacked in return and their jeep was set afire. Over 10 people were arrested. Two days later, Saiyed makes a written application to the city police commissioner, minister of state, home and in the local police station that those arrested are innocent and those actually guilty are still roaming free. It would be obvious by now that it is 'Mushir's gang' who he has referred to in his applications. Besides illegal beef trade, the gangsters are into businesses like construction, bootlegging etc.

Given that Nadeem's allegations need to be investigated before acting on it. But whose responsibility is then to ensure the whistleblower's security in the meanwhile? A citizen is voluntarily coming forward with information to help the police in its investigations, and he is murdered in broad daylight within four days!

The same cops are now going to investigate Saiyed's murder case. This is so nostalgic of the Amit Jethwa murder case.

What happened with Saiyed and Jethwa is not right. It is not good - for Gujarat's society, for democracy, for freedom of speech. Most importantly, it is not good for average citizens like you and me, who have perhaps nothing to do with the murky world of police informers, or bootlegging, illegal beef trade or - as several people I know would say the word rather contemptuously - Juhapura.

This incident still affects us because it exposes a system where we have no right to raise our voice against injustice. Be it a simple encroachment in your lane affecting your car's movement, or rash drivers of luxury cars who almost killed your young son, raising a voice against the high and mighty with the clout of money or politics is increasingly becoming difficult. May be we need an 'Aaj ka Arjun' to save us from 'Aaj ka Gundaraaj'.