By IndiaTomorrow.net,New Delhi, 12 Aug 2015: The Human Rights Division of the Union Home Ministry has issued notice to the Chief Secretary of Telangana and the National Human Rights Commission on the Aler encounter of 7th April in which five under-trial prisoners were killed.
On 7th April 2015, five Muslim under trial prisoners viz., Viquar Ahmed, Mohammed Haneef, Syed Amjad Ali, Mohammed Zakir and Izhar Khan were killed by the Telangana state police on the way to the Nampalli court at Hyderabad from Warangal central prison.
Acting on a petition of the National Confederation of Human Rights Organisations (NCHRO), the Home Ministry issued notice on 29th July.
“It is requested that the requisite factual report/information on the matter may pleae be furnished to this Ministry by 1/07/2015 to facilitate further action in the matter, said the Home Ministry in its notice to Telangana government and NHRC.
NCHRO had conducted a fact finding inquiry on 28th and 29th of April, 2015 and published the fact finding report on 30th of April in a press conference held at NSS press club at Hyderguda in Hyderabad.
MHA Letter on Telangana Encounter
“The fact finding report was sent on the day itself to state and central government officials including the Prime Minister of India for the appropriate action. After receiving the petition of NCHRO, the Prime Minister’s office (PMO ID No. PMOPG/D/2015/88281 dated 09/05/2015) forwarded it to the Human Rights Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs. On the receipt of the petition, N.R. Singh, the Under Secretary (HR) has sent notice (No. 15011/100/2015-HR.III) to the Chief Secretary of Telangana and the Joint Secretary (P&A) of the National Human Rights Commission last week on 29th of July, requesting that the requisite factual report/information on the matter to be furnished to the Ministry to facilitate further action in that matter,” said Adv. K.P. Mohamed Shareef, Vice-Chairperson, NCHRO.
Justifying the encounter, the Telangana police had said they opened fire at the prisoners when they tried to flee from the custody of the escort team. However, photos that later appeared in the media showed the dead under-trials handcuffed and chained with the seats of the bus wherein they were being taken to the court. This created suspicion about genuineness of the encounter.
Acting on the media reports, the NHRC had also ordered an enquiry into the encounter.
