New Delhi, Jan. 28: Sitaram Yechury, Digvijay Singh and Ram Vilas Paswan today stood up for Muslim youths wrongly imprisoned in terror cases.

The occasion was the release of What it Means to be a Muslim in India Today — a compilation of testimonies of Muslims who have suffered false terror cases, torture and humiliation. The book was brought out by an NGO.

Yechury promised to quiz the government in the budget session on Muslim youths jailed for the attacks in Hyderabad, Malegaon, Ajmer and on Samjhauta Express. The needle of suspicion has shifted towards “Hindutva” extremists, especially after the confession of RSS’s Swami Aseemanand.

Digvijay cited cases of absconding suspects who escaped to Gujarat or took jobs in RSS-affiliated schools. Aseemanand settled there, he said.

Digvijay reiterated his doubts about the Batla House encounter, pointing out that all five bullets had hit the suspect Aatish in the head. “The 26 youths picked up just because their numbers were on Aatish’s phone faced almost 50 cases each.”

Paswan said the RSS was more dangerous than Simi and should be banned.

The gathering saw an outpouring of grief and humiliation. Some youths broke down as they recalled police torture and confessions extracted at the threat of stripping their sisters. A mother of three men arrested in Godhra said she wished for death. “We can’t even cry to anyone,” Malegaon MLA Mufti Mohammed Ismail A. Khalique said.