19-year-old Sumaiya Fatima has countered the allegations levelled by the Prayagraj police about how her father, activist Javed Mohammed stored weapons in their home, which now stands demolished.
Speaking to The Quint, Sumaiya said that if any weapons were in fact found, they would have been seen in the live broadcast of the demolition of their home.
“The demolition of our house was being broadcast live. Everyone saw everything came out of our house when it was being emptied. Police went in and took out every single item from our house. But no weapons were recovered. If they would have been, wouldn’t it have been visible in the live broadcast? Or wouldn’t anyone from the massive crowds standing there have seen it?,” she questioned.
“And if indeed some weapons were found, where are the photographs of them? It’s clear there were no weapons found, all of this has been fabricated in order to malign our family,” Sumaiya further said.
After the demolition of the house on Sunday afternoon, the police told media that “inappropriate material” including pistols were found in the house.
"During the demolition, his house was searched and inappropriate material including weapon and posters was recovered. A list of such items is being prepared and it will be part of the investigation. Among the recovered weapons include .12 bore and .315 bore pistol and cartridges. Some papers with sharp remark on court has been taken as evidence," Ajay Kumar, SSP Prayagraj had said.
However, Sumaiya termed these allegations as “made up.”
“After all, they need something to blame us with. Or they can’t justify how they treated us. So they have no option but to make up fake charges of this kind. Anyone who thinks logically will ask themself why no such weapon was seen in the live broadcast,” Sumaiya said.
The entire demolition had taken place amid high media presence, with videos of the house first being emptied and then demolished went viral.
In this visuals, photographs of the family members, including Sumaiya’s elder sister and student activist Afreen Fatima can be seen. The visuals also showed certain flags being removed from the house.
“Yes, there were flags. They are the flags of the Welfare Party of India, the political party our father is affiliated with,” Sumaiya said.
Javed Mohammad, one of the key accused persons in the violent protests that erupted in Prayagraj over the remarks on Prophet Muhammad, was arrested by the city police on Friday evening, 10 June.
Sumaiya and her mother Parveen were taken for questioning by the police later that night, and the two were released after over 30 hours on the morning of Sunday, 12 June.
Hours after their release, their house had been demolished.
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