Uttarakhand Court Orders FIR against 6 Policemen in Muslim Gym Trainer’s Death

"This is a fight for truth and justice. The police have definitely beaten up and murdered him," said Wasim's cousin.

Months after gym trainer’s death, Uttarakhand orders fir against 6 policemen.

(Photo: Vibhushita Singh/The Quint)

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(Trigger Warning: This piece contains details about dead body).

A judicial magistrate court in Uttarakhand has ordered the Haridwar police to register a First Information Report (FIR) against the six policemen, ten months after the death of a gym trainer, Wasim Qureshi.

In its order passed on Wednesday, 2 July, chief judicial magistrate Avinash Kumar Shrivastav of Haridwar court noted that the death appeared to be murder, prima facie.

“From the application submitted by the applicant, the matter appears to be murder prima facie, which is a cognizable offence. Furthermore, the opposition parties in this case are government employees and public servants. Therefore, the investigation report received under section 175 (4) BNSS also leads to the conclusion that in this case, a proper investigation needs to be conducted by registering a First Information Report against the opposite parties, because sufficient evidence can be collected only through investigation,” noted the judgment, a copy of which accessed by The Quint.

The court ordered the Station House Officer (SHO) of Kotwali Gangnaha police station to book sub-inspector Sarad Singh, constables Sunil Saini and Praveen Saini and three other policemen under the relevant sections within 24 hours.

'Post Mortem Shows Wasim Was Beaten Up'

According to the family members cited by the court, Wasim, who was working as a Gym trainer, was intercepted by the accused policemen near a pond at Madhopur village when he was coming back from his sister's home on the intervening night 24-25 August.

The policemen allegedly beat him up with sticks and thew him into the pond. When Wasim shouted seeking help and tried to come out of the pond, the policemen did not allow to come out. The bystanders who tried to rescue Waseem was threatened to be shot by the policemen.

The family members also saw several injury marks in the body of the deceased. The postmortem report also confirmed about the injuries.

However, the police told the court that Wasim was riding a scooty and lost balance when he saw a team of police during the security inspection. He fell from the scooter and ran away.

When the police checked the two-wheeler, they found a packet of beef. Further, they went on to say that the police received a complaint from Wasim’s cousin brother Alauddin Qureshi. They found that the allegations levelled against the policemen “untrue” when they were investigated.

Wasim Qureshi's body after it was recovered from the pond.

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

The police claimed that Wasim drowned to death instead of being beaten up. The injury marks in his body were due to hitting a solid material. Wasim’s lower lip was eaten away by Pangasius fish.

However, the court refused to accept the police version and pointed to the complicity of the policemen over the assault of the deceased.

“The applicant has also submitted the postmortem report of the deceased Waseem along with his application, in which a total of six injuries were found on the body of the deceased before his death. This clearly shows that the deceased Waseem was beaten up very badly before being thrown into the pond. It is clear from the police investigation report that the opposite parties were present at the scene of the incident at the time of the incident," said the court.

The court added the fact cannot be ruled out that the opposite parties might have beaten up the deceased Waseem and thrown him into the pond with the intention of killing him.

'This is a Fight for Truth & Justice': Wasim's Family

Speaking to The Quint, Qureshi, who had filed the case in the court, said that he had full faith in the court as he was fighting for justice and truth.

We are not implicating anyone in any false case. This is a fight for truth and justice. The police have definitely beaten up and murdered him. We have video and all evidence to back it up. We have faith in the judiciary. Those accused policemen will surely be given punishment.

Alauddin Qureshi, Wasim's Cousin

Qureshi asserted that Waseem was beaten to death due to his Muslim identity. He added that the police falsely alleged that he used to slaughter cows and stated that no one in Haridwar can hurl these accusations about them.

Wasim was the elder son in his family and earned livelihood for them. His father, Nasim is working as a labourer. Out of his five sisters, two of them are married. His gym is now being run by his younger brother.

Qureshi said he was also booked by the police in a false case of obstructing officials from carrying out their duties to put pressure on him.

“The police had put a lot of pressure on us. But by grace of God, we did not lose our courage to fight out the case. In the case filed against me, we got anticipatory bail from the High Court. The police did not take any action on our complaint. When we used to go to the police with the complaint, they were threatening us and told Wasim’s father about cutting off his beard,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Haridwar Superintendent of Police (rural) Shekhar Chandra Suyal told The Quint that no FIR has been lodged against the policemen so far as the order has been stayed for now.

Qureshi’s lawyer Sajjad Ahmed said that they will move to the court again to the stay removed in the next hearing.