‘Surrounded and Stoned by a Violent Mob’

Open Assistant Editor KK Shahina was attacked in Karnataka by rightwing elements

In November 2010, when I was with Tehelka, I did a story on how witnesses in the 2008 Bangalore blasts case had given false evidence to implicate Abdul Nasar Madani, chairman of the People’s Democratic Party in Kerala. Police records claimed that in 2007, Madani was at Lakkeri estate in Kodagu with Naseer, a Lashkar-e-Toiba operative, to plot the blasts. Three witnesses testified that they had seen Madani there on the day. I went to Kodagu and interviewed two of them—KK Yogananda and Rafeeq Bappetty. They told me that they had not seen Madani at all. Yogananda, who said he used to be an RSS activist, did not even know that he had been listed as a witness in Madani’s case. He was under the impression that he was a witness for Naseer’s involvement. Rafeeq said he had been tortured by the police and forced to give false testimony. The article appeared in Tehelka on 25 November 2010.

That same week, perhaps foreseeing the collapse of the Madani case, the police framed a case against me for intimidating witnesses. The complainant was Yogananda. I had taken the precaution of recording the interviews on candid cam, and the footage has me standing outside Yogananda’s house and speaking to him. It is abundantly clear in the footage, handed over to the police, that there was no intimidation.

I am on bail now but have had to appear before the investigating officer in Bangalore every 15 days for the past five months. I have been subjected to interrogation for more than 70 hours. Our bank accounts (my husband’s and mine) have been examined. And recently I received a judicial notice to be present at an identification parade in which Yogananda had to identify me.

On 9 December, I went for the identification parade in Kodagu. I had to appear before the tehsildar of Somwarpet taluk. When I reached the place on a bike with a friend, there were 15-odd men gathered in the compound along with Yogananda. My lawyer DD Chengappa, a resident of Somwarpet, was there and we went inside the building. I could see the crowd outside slowly getting bigger.

We were told the tehsildar was on his way and were asked to wait. By then, some in the mob approached us and started taking my pictures with cameras and mobile phones. My lawyer suggested I sit in a room adjacent to the tehsildar’s chamber. While waiting for the tehsildar, a police inspector told me it wasn’t safe to return on a bike as the mob outside may turn violent. He said we should take a car. I told him my security was his duty. He came back with: “Your security is not my job.” I pointed out that I was there on a judicial notice and therefore under his jurisdiction. I then called up the Deputy Superintendent of Police in Bangalore who has been investigating the case. He told me he would look into it.

After the identification parade got over, I was instructed to get into a police van. As the van moved out, the mob, which was about 50-strong now, surrounded the vehicle and turned violent. They started banging their fists on the vehicle and tried to break the windows. The van could not move as we were surrounded. They also pelted stones at the vehicle. They were shouting in Kannada, demanding that the police hand me over to them. Even with the 12-15 policemen around, it was a dangerous place to be if the mob got to us. Fortunately, the van driver managed to move the vehicle out of the crowd and we left.

The police dropped me on the road 5 km away from the spot. My lawyer, who was following us, took me in his car from there on. Later he informed me that the mob belonged to the Hindu Jagran Vedike, a rightwing outfit.

About The Author

Shahina KK