My husband is innocent, police tortured him in custody: Veena Rana

Veena Rana wife of activist Dipak Kabir who was arrested following the violent protest against Citizenship (Amendment) Act, said that her husband is innocent and was arrested when he went to inquire about missing protesters. She also alleged that police has tortured him during interrogation.

Dipak was arrested for his alleged involvement in violent protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 on December 19.

Naratting the incident, Rana said: "On December 19, we held a protest against CAA and it was peaceful. We were not involved in any sort of violence. Dipak got a call that some of the protestors are missing and on Friday, he went to the Hazratganj police station to inquire about the missing. The police arrested him and sent to jail on Friday night."

She said that police should arrest only those who are found involved in violence.

"Only those who are found involved in violence should be arrested and all the charges framed against my husband are false. We will go to court for justice," Rana said.

She alleged that police had tortured her husband during interrogation.

"I met him at the jail on Sunday. Till Saturday, we didn't have any information about Dipak. The police snatched away his phone and tortured him in the name of interrogation," she added.

Adding that every citizen has the right to dissent, Rana alleged that many people who were not involved in violence have also been arrested by the police.

"I want the system to punish those who commit violence. The governments have advanced methods to identify the culprits these days. It is absolutely unacceptable the way they torture innocent people," she said.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, seeks to grant citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghstan and Bangladesh and came to India on or before December 31, 2014.

( With inputs from ANI )