Bearing the taint

The five suspected ISI agents — Mohammed Pervez, Mohammed Yunus, Mohammed Riaz, Rehan Puthawala, Munaver Baig — were arrested early this month on specific information provided by the CBI and booked under POTA for having received terrorist training in Pakistan and aiding the killers of Pandya.

Today’s protest began just before noon with a group of women holding placards and staging a silent dharna on the busy Relief Road near Jhakaria Masjid.

‘‘Ever since my son was arrested, I was not even allowed to meet him at the police station. They arrested him from our house at gunpoint and said he would be released after being presented in court. But now, he has been booked under POTA,’’ said Khadija Bibi, mother of Yunus, who has been accused of escorting Pandya’s killer to the spot.

‘‘We are not even allowed inside the court when they are produced for hearing. We are turned away when we approach police officers with a request to allow us to meet them. Is this the way to treat women,’’ asked Sher Banu, mother of Pervez. Police had claimed that a Chinese .32 pistol was recovered from Pervez at the time of his arrest.

About a dozen women protesters met Police Commissioner K.R. Kaushik and alleged that the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) officials had barged into their homes at odd hours and arrested the youths at random.‘‘When we ask officials to reveal the purpose of detaining the youths, we are threatened. We are told not to speak to the media and raise a hue and cry about the detention,’’ said the mother of a detainee.