[Reader-list] A hearsay note on social fact finding

[mahmood farooqui]

>From two telephonic conversations with two divergent locations in Okhla (not
Zakirnagar or Jamianagar) I have gathered that people of Okhla, Muslims
mostly, have more than one take on the incident. My 29 year old brother, (of
N-71/c Batla House Extension, Khalilullah Masjid) and my 70+ father in
law(of 220, Zakirnagar, N.D-25) inform me that there are many people who
contest the versions of the incident put out by, to quote Mujeeb
Saheb, 'professional secularists,' and appear to attribute some rationale to
police actions. While all in the area are, rightly, panicked at the thought
of arbitrary detentions, and possibly murder, also, by formal and paralegal
agents of the state, the public opinion about the status of the incident is
not monolithic.