Uttar Pradesh: Pushed off’ terrace by cops, man dies; kin seek justice

MEERUT: Mohammed Akil, 43, who had six cases registered against him, died three days after he sustained injuries allegedly during a police raid at his residence in Khurja area in UP's Bulandshahr district. A probe has been ordered into the matter.
Akil’s family alleged that he was brutally beaten up and pushed off the terrace by the policemen during the raid at his residence in Khabish Gyan locality on May 24.
Police, however, claimed that Akil, wanted in a cattle theft case lodged against him in 2020, jumped off the terrace to escape on seeing the police team knocking at his door.
“Police knocked on his main door during the raid. In a bid to escape, Akil jumped off the terrace from the rear end of the house. Family told us he was not at home. He was later admitted to a hospital by the family with a different name,” said Santosh Kumar, Bulandshahr senior superintendent of police.
However, on Akil’s family’s complaint, he has directed Harendra Singh, superintendent of police (rural areas), to investigate the case.
Giving a different version of the incident, Mohammed Kaif, 11, Akil’s son, alleged, “The policemen knocked at the main door. Some even climbed up on the terrace from the rear. They asked my father to come along. When we heard cries of help, we ran upstairs. We pleaded with the policemen to let go of my father, but they hit him with a rifle butt on the head and threw him off the terrace.”
Kaif, who has four younger sisters to look after, said, “I want justice.”
Having sustained grievous injuries, Akil was taken to a city-based private hospital by his family. After his condition deteriorated, he was rushed to Aligarh and was later referred to a higher centre in Delhi, where he breathed his last on May 27.
“If he was a criminal, they could have just arrested him and put him in jail. Court would have decided if he is guilty or not,” said Rizwan, 27, Akil’s nephew who lives next door.