Police says owner organised protests; brother claims doctor was not in Delhi
New Delhi: The younger brother of Dr Ehtesham Anwar of Al-Hind hospital in Mustafabad in North East Delhi has alleged that the Delhi Police is ill-treating his brother under the pretext of interrogating him. Dr Anwar, the owner of Al-Hind hospital in New Mustafabad, which had treated victims of the Northeast Delhi riots, has been named by the Delhi Police in a chargesheet filed in the murder of Dilbar Negi, a 20-year-old waiter at Anil Sweets shop in Shiv Vihar.
The Delhi Police has said that Anwar was the organiser of a protest at Farooqia Masjid, adding that the participants of this protest had taken part in the violence in North East Delhi on February 23. However, Dr Anwar's younger brother, Dr Meraj told Millennium Post that his brother was not in Delhi between February 17 and February 24.
"My brother, Doctor Anwar was not in Delhi from February 17 to 23, as he was in Bettiah, Bihar to attend an ailing relative who later died. He came back to Delhi only on February 24. Then we started treating patients as the riots had broken out. Our hospital treated more than a thousand patients, many of whom were seriously wounded," he added.
"During Ramzan, my brother was called several times to the police station from where he was taken to various locations for interrogation. Sometimes, the interrogation continued for more than 10 hours. He was harassed by the cops who interrogated him. Sometimes, he even missed the usual iftar. They asked him where the patients came to the hospital from," alleged Dr Meraj.
Dr Anwar had spoken to Justice S Muralidhar, then in the Delhi High Court, late on the night of February 25 and apprised him of the ground reality of the riot's impact, before which there had been no interference from the judiciary in the riots as they continued for over 48 hours prior.
As reported on February 26, Justice Muralidhar held a midnight hearing on February 25 and ordered the Delhi Police to make arrangements for ambulances for the safe passage of the injured stuck at Dr Anwar's Al-Hind Hospital.
"Now the cops are asking about the connections of Dr Anwar. This is an effort to malign his name and all the good work the doctor did at this small hospital during the riots," Dr Meraj said. Both the brothers, along with their third sibling run the small hospital in Mustafabad which treated riot victims at a time when paths to the GTB Hospital were deliberately blocked
by rioters.
