We forced Shinde to write letter: CPI-M

Welcoming union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde's missive to state chief ministers urging them to ensure that no Muslim youth is wrongfully harassed in terror cases, the CPI-M Wednesday said it forced Shinde to take that stand.

"We raised the issue several times. We raised it at the Sep 23 National Integration Council meeting also. We forced the home minister to write such a letter," Communist Party of India-Marxist central committee member Mohammed Salim said here.

He said empirical data from the past 10 to 12 years suggest that young Muslim men were wrongly implicated in terror cases.

A number of courts have also made similar observations, said the CPI-M leader, who opposed Bharatiya Janata party chief Rajnath Singh's comments that the letter went against the spirit of the constitution.

He said Rajnath Singh should have instead culled more information about the context in which the letter was written.

"The letter is very much within the framework of the constitution, as the judiciary has, on a number of occasions, made similar observations," he said.

Salim said that while his party was for strong action against those involved in terrorism cases, it could not remain oblivious to the communal profiling and attitude of a section of the police and security forces. Innocent Muslims youths have suffered harassment and imprisonment, he said.