The Hindu: Delhi: Sunday, August 30, 2015.
He was kept
in the police station in the name of interrogation and several agencies such as
IB, RAW and other agencies grilled him on various issues.
Theatre
artiste Akram Feroze, who was on a mission of ‘Theatre at borders and world
without borders campaign’ was arrested and illegally detained for more than two
weeks by the Ramgarh police in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan.
A native of
Jagtial town in Karimnagar district, Mr. Feroze decided to launch his crusade
from Kutch to Kolkata international border with a slogan of “say no to war”. He
reached Jaisalmer on August 9 and Ramgarh region on August 13. When he was
inquiring about the further movement to the restricted area of the border, the
locals informed the police, who rushed to the spot and took him to the police
station.
He was kept
in the police station in the name of interrogation and several agencies such as
IB, RAW and other agencies grilled him on various issues. Though, he was having
his passport and other documents, the police grilled him over the video
clippings of Tosa Maidan peoples agitation launched by the Jammu and Kashmir
RTI activists secured from his laptop. He informed that he had participated in
the programme as part of RTI activist and it was a documentary film.
Realising the
mistake, the police sent him to judicial custody on August 20 by registering a
case under Cr.P.C. 151 and was lodged in high-profile criminals’ jail till
August 26. He was released only after producing the police verification
certificate by his brother Alam Feroze.
He returned
to Jagtial on Friday night.
This
correspondent could talk to Feroze over phone and inquire about the details.
Still traumatised, he said: “My family underwent lots of trauma following my
illegal detention. Now, it is a sigh of relief after returning home and
reuniting with the family members”.
“I have only
decided to launch a campaign of world without borders in a democratic manner
through theatre. My slogan is world without a war. After all, the borders
create wars and war is not for everyone”, he pointed out. “I am not a spy or
into anti-national activities. But, I underwent lots of mental agony”, he said.
Asked whether he would continue his mission of world without borders programme,
he said “I will complete my mission at any cost. After all I am a theatre
artist”.
His elder
brother, Alam Feroze, said that he had reached Jaisalmer on August 23, but the
authorities concerned had harassed him for three days for securing the bail of
Akram. He said that his family underwent lot of trauma and stress all these
days after illegal detention.
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