A representative of the Andhra Pradesh State Minorities Commission was denied access to a prison last week after a fact-finding committee associated with the commission reported details of illegal detention and alleged torture of at least 20 Muslims picked up over the twin blasts which killed 43 people in Hyderabad.

While a forensics expert, sent by the minority panel, confirmed instances of torture and third-degree methods, lead representative of the AP State Minorities Commission, Advocate Commissioner Ravi Chander, was refused permission on Saturday to meet the detainees at Charlapally Prison to complete his report.

Minority commission is a statutory body, and questions are now being raised about the refusal by the state authorities.

Says Ravichander: “The state minorities commission has the powers of a civil court and I had the necessary permissions to enter. I even took fresh permissions the second time I went, but I was told to go talk to a minister this time around.”

The three-member committee, which met the detainees over the last month under the aegis of the minority panel, has demanded a judicial probe into how suspects were picked up and in many cases were interrogated at “unknown locations” and subjected to “severe beatings and even electric shocks”.

In its report, accessed by The Indian Express, the committee says it “sees communal bias in the pattern of detentions/arrests made after the twin bomb blasts. There is sufficient evidence to believe that Muslim young men were picked up at random because they belonged to a particular religion.”

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