Arrests did not stop with that. Five men were arrested in Hubli with regards to the same case - Ubedullah Imran, Mohammed Sadiq Lakshkar, Wahid Hussain, Dr Zafar Iqbal Sholapur and Mehboob alias Baba . A 12^th arrest was made in Hyderabad - Obedulla-ur-Rehman (21), who is reported to be a final year B. Com student.

Daily Bhaskar reported as follows ^[29] -

Such incidents where young Muslim men of ages between 20 and 30 are getting arrested are increasing. Of course, as has been told by Supreme Court, innocent Muslims must not be arrested just because they are Muslims. But just because they are Muslims, one cannot claim of being the target of police inefficiency. When Naquee Ahmed Wasi Ahmed Shaikh was arrested in connection with the 13/7 blasts,  hue and cry was made by media that the poor thing was being framed and that he was just another informer of Delhi Police. The Hindu reported in a way which almost sent out the message that poor Muslims are used as bait and then they are trapped by the police themselves. Lalu Prasad Yadav slammed Nitish Kumar for not doing anything to save the Bihari youth. The results of investigation is known to everyone when ATS Chief told in a press conference that Naqee Ahmed has approved of abetting the terrorist group with “full knowledge” of what is happening. Same is the case with Thamim Ansari. The Hindu almost gave his biography^[37] portraying him as an ideal SFI leader while Times of India reported how an independent “fact finding committee” took strong exception to the wordings in the FIR that said, “Thamim Ansari was involved in espionage activities due to religious animosity and personal gain. He was involved in a conspiracy to enact North Indian style disruptive activities in South India too.”^[38] But it has come to light that not only was he being handled by Amir Zubair Siddiqui, a diplomat in the Pakistan High Commission to Sri Lanka, he was also conducting reconnaissance in a David Headly-esque manner. And we all know what happened after Headley headed out for his fun trip in Mumbai.

          Innocents should not be persecuted. I salute the notion and personally appreciate the efforts for the same cause. But this should not blind ones notion of what is right and wrong. If one is fighting for the innocence of wronged people, in the same manner he or she should be ready to accept the guilt of the guilty. One should be rational in the concept of what is objective and what absurd passion for protection of minorities is. There are criminals in both majority and minority communities. But one wonders if a thief caught in an act for a robbery will be backed by the media houses just because he happened to be from a minority community. Remember how the former Union Minority Affairs Minister Cabinet member and the cement scam tainted Abdul Rahman Antulay raised some disgusting theories about Hemant Karkare’s murder? Remember how the television and print media wagged their tails leaking saliva from their mouth chased these bizarre claims? On reading the ridiculous level the media goes into shielding and defending the hard core communal elements from the Muslim community one asks himself, “does that mean Muslims or Christians or Sikhs cannot be criminals at all?” So who are the wrong doers? Who is anti society? Who is causing problems?

And if the culpability becomes undeniable then there are always new tricks off the cuff, the media houses can show. So when Thamim Ansari an ex- SFI is caught, on the same page where the report is published there is another story of Muslim victimhood in which a wrong guy was caught and jailed. It is cruel that he had to undergo such an unmitigated disaster in his personal life. But the timing of the report, the position of the news raises question. Just like how the media questions timing of each and every political move, fingers can be raised on the timing of printing and positioning of such reports also. It looks like a pathetic effort to show – “There are Muslim wrongdoers as given by our first report, but so what? There are Muslims who are wronged also. They are victims of the state excesses which in turn is part of RSS conspiracy. You don’t believe it? Read the following report to know how this patriotic nationalist Muslim was put into misery.” Not only are such articles indications of poor journalism in which articles are being published for the sake of it, it also raises questions as to whom they are fooling with such articles. Is there going to be a perceptible change towards Muslim community just because a news item is printed? I don’t see something of the nature happening among the common people till the claims of the leaders about Indian Muslims having a distinct identity from the rest of India, Muslims always being a subject of regression and the very violent protests being carried out by communal groups are put to an end. It does not matter if Mani Shankar Iyer screams sitting on roof top about how communal BJP is, it does not matter if Mulayam Singh is claiming to support UPA to keep the communal elements at bay, it really does not matter if each one of the secular leaders repeats Islam to be religion of peace in a way that puts every other religion to shame. Unless and until there is a noticeable change in the attitude of Indian Muslims, more importantly, those who claim to represent them, such articles are simply waste of ink and paper.

          Such articles, such slogans, such futile show of being holier than thou are going to be scoffed at by majority of Indian citizens who are not going to tolerate nonsense. The sad fact is that because it is so often repeated that Islam is a religion of peace although actions are to the contrary, the phrase is now popularly used sarcastically. The fact that it is so often repeated only with Islam and not with other religion raises questions like “Is Islam the only religion of Peace?”, “If not why is it being repeated so often?” , “Is there something really wrong?” . Thus instead of being helpful the dim-witted duo of “secular” leaders and the media are being counter-productive.

          One wouldn’t harp on about the media this much had it been uniform in its quest for human rights. So when 5 of the 9 accused are acquitted in Best Bakery case , 61 of the 83 accused are acquitted in Mehsana Massacre, 23 of 47 accused are acquitted in Ode village massacre, 29 of 61 accused are acquitted in Naroda Patiya massacre, it was difficult nay impossible to show a single article or an editorial or a television show about how these men were wronged. Not one human rights activist had the spine to speak up lest their secular credentials be questioned. Are these acquitted men not humans in the eyes of the media? Do they not have the right to live freely, to not be arrested wrongly? Do they have to convert to Islam so that their voices will also be heard? Do they need to hail Owasi as their leader so that media will talk about their misery? Do they need to declare Shahi Bukhari to be their religious head so that rights activist from Tehelka will write sob stories about them? Do they need names like Mohammed Adom Ali Sheikh or Naquee Ahmed Wasi Ahmed Shaikh so that social activists will step up and talk? Are they to be shunned forever, even though the courts have found them to be innocent, just because they are Hindus? Do you not attach any value to their lives, their time they wasted in jail on wrong charges? Are they not victims of vicious propaganda against Hindus by those who claim to be pro-Minority? Did not the need, to brand a few people Saffron terrorists to counter the concept of Green Terrorism result in the arrest of these innocents? Are we supposed to digest your argument that in the process of delivering justice such mistakes tend do happen and that it should be suffered for a greater good? Are not such actions opposite to what you claim to be your cornerstone of ethics? These questions are either ignored or received as part of a larger conspiracy to break the secular fabric of India.  

          When a person gets arrested or sentenced in charges for terrorism, the news reports often carry the photos of their hapless families. Really, one does feel sad for them. For no mistakes of their own they are subjected to such emotional torture. But same is the case for those criminals in Gujarat riots. Don’t they have a family? Do they not have a wife or children or a mother? Were they born with the sole purpose of killing Muslims in India? Yes media would like us to believe that. It is this bias, this complete apathy to the rights of people who are lesser humans in their eyes, this urge to protect the rights of certain criminals and shun others, which has raised questions on how sincere the media and the secular leaders are in the pursuit of welfare of every one, in the pursuit of secularism. After all secularism means to separate religion from everyday activities of life such as education, business, bank loans, crime, punishment, acquittal, human rights etc. But these secular leaders would have us believe that some are more equal than others, these secular media will declare the theory of “No Minority can do wrong” to be the ultimate truth.

Links to other parts 

1. Part 1 - Muslim Leadership

2. Part 2 - Assam Riots

3.  Part 3 - Ghaziabad Riots

4. Part 5 - "Innocence of Muslims" 

5. Part 6 - A Chance for Indian Muslims