Rajasthan police picks up man for performing plays along India's borders, family hopes for his release

Alam has been a hassled man for two weeks. He has been trying to get the Rajasthan police to release his brother Mohammed Akram Feroze, whose last known whereabouts was near the India-Pakistan border in Rajasthan.

When they finally found out where he was, it turned out that the Rajasthan police suspected him of committing a crime: performing plays.

Akram Feroze, a Karimnagar-based theatre artist was travelling near Ramgarh in Jaisalmer district to perform plays. Ramgarh is one such village, to which he took his “Theatre at Borders” which aims to perform theatre at the villages near India's borders with Pakistan.

What he did not realize was that he needed a permit for doing so, and ended up being arrested by the Ramgarh police on August 13.

Akram is still held by the Jaisalmer police, who have confiscated his personal belongings like a laptop, a dongle, camera and have registered a case under Sections 107 and 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The police are also investigating him for terror links.

Section 107 of the CrPC empowers a Magistrate to ask a person to execute a bond when there is suspicion that the person is likely to breach the peace and Section 151 allows the police to arrest without warrant when they suspect that a crime is about to be committed.

The incident came to light on Tuesday, when Akram's friends and family reached out on social media platforms asking for help to bring back the artist.

Akram is an avid traveller and has featured on a lot of newspapers before for his initiatives like The Cycle Natak, Winter on Wheels and now Theatre at Borders. He has also been a speaker at two local 'Tedx Talks'

However, the police still remain adamant on not keeping him under custody. The family was informed of his whereabouts after he posted a picture on his Facebook page that he was in the police station.

On August 15, a few friends reportedly called up Akram, but the police picked up and reassured them that it was just normal procedure and Akram would be released in a day or two.

On August 18, with Akram still in custody, the local police and an enquiry team was sent to the Jagtial police station in Telangana, which is in Akram's home town.

The family claims that all details were provided and the enquiry report was sent with a clearance from the Telangana police to Jaisalmer.

However, two days later, the family received a call claiming that a few petty cases were booked on Akram.

Akram's brother Alam, immediately left for Jaisalmer and reached on August 23, where he met Akram but was re assured by the police not to call a lawyer, as it wouldn't be necessary and that his brother would be released as soon as the enquiry report was cleared.

Alam still went ahead and met a lawyer on Monday and tried to bail his brother out, but says the local court has so far refused to accept the plea.

"They refused the bail application. They didn't reject it - they refused to take it," Alam tells TNM. "They claimed that they are not accepting it on a special request by an investigating authority."

Alam is hopeful that his brother will be released soon and so is Akram's family back home.