A six-year-old child asks: “Mujhe abbu ki bahut yaad aati hai, abbu kab aayenge?” I miss my father. When will he come back? She last saw h...

A six-year-old child asks: “Mujhe abbu ki bahut yaad aati hai, abbu kab aayenge?” I miss my father. When will he come back?
She last saw him behind a glass partition in Delhi’s Mandoli jail on October 6. “When she met him, she kept crying and saying that she will take him back home,” said the girl’s mother, whose name has been withheld on request.
The six-year-old’s father, Tasleem Ahmad, is among the 21 people arrested in the infamous Delhi riots conspiracy case. The Delhi Police have alleged the communal violence that left 53 dead in February was a conspiracy hatched and orchestrated by those protesting against the amended Citizenship Act.
In the case, widely described as a witch-hunt against protestors, the police have invoked the draconian anti-terror law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act against the accused. They also stand charged for murder, sedition, promoting communal enmity, and offence under the Arms Act.
Most of the accused are residents of North East Delhi, barring Umar Khalid, the former student leader of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal of Pinjra Tod, a feminist activist group, and current and former students of the Jamia Millia Islamia University.
Ahmad is neither a student, nor an activist. The 36-year-old education consultant lived...