‘Media Role Ensured Cops Accept Complaint’: Kin of ‘Killed’ UP Boy

Suleiman’s family filed the complaint after he was allegedly shot during Citizenship Act protests in UP’s Bijnor.

This is Suleiman’s family. His mother in the polka-dot shawl has been inconsolable.

(Photo: Aishwarya S Iyer/The Quint)

“From 22 December to 28 December we made several efforts to get a complaint registered against the policemen for killing my younger brother. We also wrote letters to the Superintendent of Police, CM and PM. Finally our complaint was accepted,” Suleiman’s elder brother Shoaib Malik told The Quint.

Kin of 20-year-old UPSC aspirant, Suleiman, who lost his life during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor, filed a complaint on Saturday, 28 December, against six policemen for shooting him. While the police has said that Sulaiman was killed in self-defence in police firing, the family claims he was killed in front of the local madrasa to instill fear and terror during the violent protests on 20 December.

Superintendent of Police (rural), Vishwajeet Srivastava told HT that Suleiman's brother, Shoaib, had filed a complaint, naming a constable Mohit, who had apparently shot Suleiman during the protest. The complaint has been clubbed with cases registered against the perpetrators of violence.

Soaib Malik (left) and Salman, Suleiman’s brothers, got the complaint against the alleged killing of their brother registered after several efforts. (Photo:Aishwarya S Iyer/The Quint)

“They have clubbed our cases with other cases. They have only given us a receival on the complaint we wrote got,” Malik added. Upon acceptance of complaint and filing of FIR, the police is supposed to give the complainant a challan. “It has been two days now, but we have not got the challan or any official document yet. No one has come to meet us for the investigations either.”

Reiterating how filling the complaint was not easy, he said, “We have wanted to file a complaint since 20 December. We went several times but they did not file the complaint. Thankfully media like yours stepped in, the news became bigger and they eventually had to accept our complaint. We live in a democracy at the end of the day and it is imperative we raise our voice. We will not live in fear,” he said.

A day after the incident, on 21 December, SP Sanjeev Tyagi had told reporters that Sulaiman died in police firing due to self-defence.

“In Bijnor protests one man died after he (Suleiman) opened fire on a police constable. the constable then retaliated and shot Sulaiman in self-defence,” Bijnor SP had said.

About 21 people have died in the violence at protests against CAA, out of which at least 14 have died of bullet injuries.

(With inputs from Hindustan Times.)