NEW DELHI: MA Anwar, the owner of Al Hind Hospital in north-east Delhi’s Mustafabad area, against whom the Delhi Police has filed a charge sheet for his alleged role in the riots in February this year, has claimed that he has been made an accused because he moved the court in order to help those injured in the riots.
"I remember the Delhi Police telling me that I should not approach the court in order to help those injured in the riots. But I ignored their statement. It (the charge sheet) is an outcome of this I guess," Anwar said.
He has been made an accused in the murder of a 20-year-old waiter, Dilbar Negi. One night during the communal riots, Anwar, with the help of advocate Suroor Mander, moved the Delhi High Court when the injured patients admitted at the Al Hind Hospital were stopped by the police to be transported to the GTB Hospital as his hospital lacked critical care to treat the injured.
The police took the plea that as the situation was volatile, it would be risky to take the patients out and refused to provide help. But the then Delhi high court judge, Justice S Muralidhar, had held a midnight hearing and ordered the police to make arrangements to shift patients from Al Hind.
"It was no less than a threat when the police spoke to me at night. But I decided to ignore it because I was busy looking after the patients. The area was blocked with barricades and the police didn’t allow the ambulance to even enter the area. At that moment saving some innocent lives was my priority," said Anwar, who as set up the hospital two-and-a-half years ago.
When his name figured in the charge sheet, it came as a shock to him. "I still can’t understand what exactly was my fault. Just because I helped some injured people in the riots? I did what a doctor is supposed to do, and that is taking care of the injured," he said. Anwar recalled that he was questioned for 10 hours by the special cell and the crime branch.
He was made to wait outside the police station for hours together. "It was during Ramzan when I would stand under the sun with no shade and water. I started falling ill, yet whenever I was called, I went. But their behaviour wasn’t good. After cooperating with the police, this is what I got in the name of humanity," he said.
When contacted, DCP north-east Ved Prakash Surya said the case wasn’t with under his jurisdiction and maybe other department was handling it. However, special CP (crime branch) Neeraj Thakur said: "The doctor was not called for any interrogation nor is he involved in any of our cases. He must have been called by the district police for the probe."