Batla post-mortem: TCN leads, mainstream, Urdu papers follow

By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,

New Delhi: The Batla House is a hot cake, even one and half years after the bloody shootout took place in the predominantly South-East Delhi locality. TwoCircles.net broke the news about the revealing post-mortem report of the slain terror suspects around midnight on March 17. The next day saw news rooms in Delhi busy sending their men to get a copy of the report. And today about a dozen papers – from mainstream to Urdu to Hindi – published the news prominently. Some gave credit to TwoCircles.net.

The post-mortem report of both Atif Ameen and Mohd Sajid, the Azamgarh youth killed in the encounter on September 19, 2008, clearly mentioned that the duo was also hit with a blunt object. This is unthinkable in an encounter and in one wherein each of the two received more than dozen bullets – one in back to chest and another in the head from upside – more than enough to kill them instantly. Then why the police had to resort to brutal beating? It surprised TCN and thus became focus of the story --- Batla House: Post-mortem report confirms Atif, Sajid were hit by blunt force

It surprised many others. The English language newspapers including The Hindu, The Indian Express and Mail Today published the news focusing the same point. The Mail Today made it a two-page story covering different angles of the case with chief focus on the beating and angles of gunshots. Among Urdu dailies Roznama Rashtriya Sahara, Hamara Samaj and Hindustan Express gave the news good space on front page. This is the first news of Roznama Sahara and Hindustan Express. Hindi language papers like Jan Satta and Aaj Samaj also covered the news.

TCN leads on Batla House autopsy report, other media follow

While front page lead news of Roznama Sahara took the image of post-mortem report from TwoCircles.net and gave it clear credit, the one-page special article of Sahara Group Editor Aziz Burney also referred to the story of TCN with proper credit. The Hindi daily Jan Satta also mentioned TCN.

But for this all, credit goes to 22-year-old Afroz Alam Sahil. His continued effort to get a copy of the post-mortem report since one week after the shootout got success only on March 17 evening when he got a 115-page report from National Human Rights Commission – the body which was condemned for giving clean chit to Delhi police in an enquiry which did not take into account the version of victim families, neighbors and independent fact-finding teams. Afroz, a Mass Communication student of Jamia Millia Islamia, got blank in last one and half years from police, AIIMS, NHRC, CIC and High Court when he approached them for a copy of post-mortem report. Ultimately his efforts bore fruit, and gave hope to many who want to get information from government offices by using Right to Information Act.