Ghazanfar Abbas, IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, Nov 01: Raising questions over the Madhya Pradesh Police version of the Bhopal encounter in which eight under-trials who had escaped from the jail were gunned down, the civil society members and students have demanded a judicial probe in the case. They made the demand while holding a protest demonstration here on Tuesday against the encounter killings.
“In this case the video shows the police were shooting on a semi-conscious body already lying on the ground. No guns were found from these eight people. They were not shooting the police. So, it’s clearly not a case of self-defense as police is saying. So, entire episode is questionable,” said Sucheta De, national president of AISA (All India Students Association), one of the organizers of the protest demonstration.
“Since the State BJP government has asked for a NIA probe only on jailbreak but not on how these young men were killed, therefore we are demanding a Supreme Court probe in the whole case – how the jail was broken, how the constable was murdered and how the eight young Muslims were killed,” said De while talking to IndiaTomorrow.net.
“This also shows a particular pattern of killing of Muslim youths as happened in many cases in Gujarat. It is very easy task to kill Muslims, Adivasis by naming them terrorist or Maoist,” she said.
According to Madhya Pradesh police, these eight people were members of the banned SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India). They escaped from the Bhopal central jail in the wee hours of Monday after killing a constable. However, all of them were found within hours in a forest area around 15 km from the jail and killed in the gunfight.
The state government has sought a probe by NIA (National Investigative Agency) into the matter.
Eminent human rights activist Shabnam Hashmi also criticized the media and government for declaring the under-trials as terrorist because they were yet to be convicted.
“These people were under-trials. They were not convicted as terrorists. We demand a judicial probe under a Supreme Court judge in this case,” demanded Hashmi, member, ANHAD, one of the organizers of the event.
“The way this encounter happened, raises many questions. Through social media people raised questions. Why all of them were wearing new cloths and watches? Most importantly, why they needed to flee from the jail while they were going to be released soon by the court?” she questioned.
“It seems a fake encounter like fake encounter cases of Gujarat — Ishrat Jahan case, Samir Khan case and Shahabuddin case,” she said.
Shashikant Tripathi, one of the protesters, said, “This case of encounter is not different from Hasimpura case and many cases of Gujarat. Police is used as a tool by the state for its political gain. As per the video and different versions from the police and government, prima facie the encounter seems fake.”
