Deepa, Abdul Karim: Out of the FIR

Islampur, Feb. 5: An MLA from North Dinajpur today
said an arrest warrant had been issued against him and another MLA from the district by a Bihar court for an agita tion in Kishenganj last year that held up trains for more than 14 hours. The For-ward Bloc MLA from Chak-ulia, Imran Ali Ramz, said today that “none of those char-ged” would surren der though the chief judicial
magistrate of Katihar R.M. Tripathy issued the warrant
on Thursday.

The warrants were al legedly issued against 30 peo
ple, including Congress MLA from Goal--po-khar Gholam Rabbani and a Bihar MP from the same party, Maulana As rarul Haque Qasmi. The case had been filed by the govern ment railway police. Prosecution sources said the warrants against Rab-ba-ni and Ramz would be sent to North Dinajpur police for exe
cution. Superintendent of the GRP in Kishenganj Sukan
Paswan denied that any war rants had been issued against the MLAs. “Before taking up the protest-related case, we would take up those cases which were lodged prior to this incident,” Paswan said.

But an inspector in Kishe- nganj said the warr-ants had
arrived. It could not be con firmed independently from
the court if the warrants had been issued.“I had a discussion with the MP from Kishenganj (Maulana Asrarul Haque Qasmi) and we have decided not to give ourselves up as we feel that what we did was for the public good,” said Ramz, who saw a Trinamul hand in the case. Trinamul holds the railways portfolio.

The railway minister is very much behind this. The railways left out the Trinamul MLA Chowdhury Ab-dul Karim from the FIR,” he said. Told that the name of Con gress MP from Raiganj, Deepa Das Munshi, too, did not fig ure in the FIR, the Bloc MLA said it was “done on purpose”.“Trinamul does not want Deepa to come into any politi cal focus and that is why her name was left out,” he said. Railway minister Dinesh Trivedi said he was hearing about the warrants for the first time. “I really don’t know anything about the warrants. I don’t get myself into these things. Let the law take its own course,” Trivedi said.

The agitation was held in Kishenganj on October 12 to press for the early setting up of
a campus of the Aligarh Mus lim University the-re. Trains were held up for 14 hours and
NH31 which is along Kishen ganj station, too, was blocked. Bengal minister Abdul Ka-
r-im was hauled up by Mamata Banerjee for holding up trains and also for sharing dais with Trinamul arch rival, Deepa. According to prosecution sources, the accused have
been charged under sections 143 (punishment for illegal as sembly), 144 (joining unlawful assembly with deadly weapon) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging duty) of the IPC. Barring Section 353, that entails an imprisonment of up to two years, all other sections are bailable, the sources said.

They have also been booked under Section 147 of the Indian Railways Act that deals with the “trespass and refusal to desist from tres pass”. If found guilty one could face a jail term of six months or a fine up to Rs 1,000 or both.

The Bengal MLAs and Deepa had joined the agitation as North Dinajpur has a size
able minority population who will benefit from the AMU campus in Kishenganj. MLA Rabbani said he had heard about the warrants. “I am in touch with Maulanasa
heb (the Bihar MP) and we will act according to his decision.” Abdul Karim admitted
that he had joined the agita tion. “I was invited by the Kis- h-enganj MP. But I don’t know
of any railway case,” Karim said.

The Bihar government has filed a separate case for bloc- ka-d-ing the highway. Both
Deepa and Abdul Kar-im’s names figure in the highway case along with that of Rab
bani and Ramz.