The Bombay high court has decided to first hear the matter of providing protection to the family of late whistleblower Kasim Khan, who had filmed 36 policemen taking bribe, before hearing the main petition filed by him seeking to regularise five refugee colonies in Mumbai. Kasim Khan died of massive heart attack earlier this month and his sons Rizwan and Imran are now pursuing the petition filed by their father.
Rizwan, while speaking to The Asian Age said, “Since our father died this month and we have decided to pursue the petition first of all the court has issued direction for amendment in the petition so that our names could be added in the petition.”
He also said, “The court has decided also to first solve the problem of our security because our father had complained about harassment by policemen deployed for our security.” The family is seeking security from some central agency.
In the meantime, the division bench of Justice V.M. Kanade and Justice Revati Mohite-Dere has appointed senior counsel Mihir Desai as amicus curiae (friend of court) to assist the court in this matter because the petitioners are appearing in person.
It may be recalled that Kasim Khan had conducted a sting operation in 2013 in Kurla (east) where 36 policemen from Nehru Nagar police station were caught on camera taking bribe and were subsequently suspended. The policemen were taking bribes to allow an illegal construction.
Khan had approached the Bombay high court seeking protection for himself and his family members, saying he received threats by police.
During hearing of his petition he also sought directions for state to regularise five refugee colonies in Mumbai. He contended that just like the government used its powers and issued special ordinance to regularise refugee colony in Ulhasnagar, it should also regularise the other five refugee colonies too. This petition is pending before the court and will come up for hearing in the first week of January 2016.
