PILIBHIT: A retired judge of the Allahabad high court was among 33 people booked for allegedly "assaulting and illegally confining" a police constable during discussions on CAA and NRC held on private premises in Pilibhit on February 13. Mushaffey Ahmad , who served as a judge in the HC between 2012 and 2013, told TOI that he had not attended the gathering but had counselled some members of the group when they met him the same day to seek advice on how to express their views on CAA and NRC without violating laws.

Police booked the 33 identified individuals and 100 unidentified people under IPC sections 147 (rioting), 188 (disobedience to order promulgated by public servant), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 333 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt to public servant), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 342 (wrongful confinement), 506 (criminal intimidation) and section 7 of Criminal Law Amendment Act.

Ahmad said on Thursday that he was “shocked to see my name in the FIR. I wasn’t even present in the meeting. I had met the group and told them that this gathering would be in violation of section 144 of the CrPC that is in force in the district, but that peaceful expression of their views was well within their constitutional rights”.

The 68-year-old also said that he found it “hard to believe” that a constable was assaulted at the meeting and confined overnight. He added, “Suppressing peaceful protests against CAA and NRC is unfortunate for the democratic values of the country as well as the dignity of the Indian constitution.”

He has now approached the chief justice of Allahabad HC and sought a high-level probe into the matter. “Policemen should be booked for falsely implicating me in an FIR. I will also meet the home secretary in this regard.”

Asked if police knew that Ahmad was a retired judge, officiating SHO, Pilibhit Kotwali police station, Mukesh Chand , said, “This can only be answered by the SHO who lodged the FIR. The SHO, Srikant Dwivedi, is on a week-long leave.”

Police stuck to their version that constable Dushyant Kumar was assaulted. A police officer said, “The protesters caught him and thrashed him. They even dragged him to an adjoining house and locked him up before threatening to kill him if he raised an alarm. However, he managed to escape on Friday and reached the police station where he narrated his ordeal.”

Congress district president Harpreet Singh Chaba, Bhim Army district president Atul Valmiki, district in-charge of Rashtriya Kisan Majdoor Sangathan Yusuf Malik and five women were among the 33 people booked for the incident.

Meanwhile, a joint delegation of Swaraj Abhiyan, UP Coordination Committee against CAA, NRC and Samvidhan Rakshak Sabha visited the area on Thursday. Ajit Singh Yadav , a member of Swaraj Abhiyan’s national working committee, alleged that police had lodged a false FIR. “Mohammad Bi whose house Kumar was supposedly dragged into and confined has denied such an incident. She said that her house had CCTVs and the footage can easily reveal the truth.”

