By TCN News,
New Delhi: Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association (JTSA), which has been running a campaign on the issue of Batla House encounter and the subsequent arrests from Jamia Nagar locality of youth whom the Police alleged to be terrorists involved in blasts in Delhi and other cities, has now decided to provide legal help to these accused.
Soon after the Batla House encounter on September 19, 2008 – in which allegedly two Delhi serial blasts masterminds and a Delhi Police officer were killed – raids were carried out in Jamia Nagar locality and half a dozen people, two of them students of Jamia Millia Islamia, were picked. About one and half years on, the trials have just begun.
JTSA earlier published a report namely ‘Encounter’ at Batla House: Unanswered Questions, in which it exposed the various discrepancies and loopholes in the police version regarding the encounter. The group has led a public demand for judicial probe into the encounter but to no avail. Now it has decided to continue its fight in the court by providing legal aid to the accused so that they could prove themselves innocent.
“While we have been leading a public demand for judicial probe into the ‘encounter’—the need for an independent and fair probe is only reinforced by the recent revelations that Ishrat Jehan and Sohrabuddin in Gujarat were killed in cold blood by the Gujarat Police—the UPA government at the Centre and the Congress government in Delhi have persistently stonewalled all such demands. One year on, the trials—of the five arrested youth, two of them students of Jamia Millia Islamia—are only just beginning. After the various state police departments cut a sorry figure when they came up with their own list of terror ‘masterminds’, the move has been to implicate these arrested youth in bomb blasts across the country. Moreover, separate FIRs and charge-sheets have been filed for every single bomb blast, even in the same city. This means that there will nearly 20 trials in Ahmedabad, five in Delhi and so on. In practical terms, it means that the trials will last for years. Worse still, the charge-sheets in Gujarat have been provided in Gujarati —thus placing the burden of translation on the families of the accused and escalating the legal expenses,” JTSA said in a statement today.
“JTSA is committed to ensuring the best legal recourse to the accused, as indeed should all citizens who believe in justice, truth and democracy. We appeal to you to support JTSA’s public campaigns and assist in the legal battle by contributing to our STRUGGLE FUND. Contributions can be made through cheque/Demand Draft drawn in favour of JAMIA TEACHERS’ SOLIDARITY ASSOCIATION, and posted to 15-D, DDA FLATS, SARAI JULLENA, NEW DELHI 110 025. Please send us your full address to enable us to send you a receipt. We would be grateful if you could email us at [email protected] when you send us your contribution,” the statement read.
The signatories to the statement are:
Manisha Sethi (9811625577), Adeel Mehdi (9990923027), Ghazi Shahnawaz (9868221506), Ahmed Sohaib (9899462042), Sanghamitra Misra (9910236948), Anwar Alam (9958993485), Azra Razzak (9818671054), Farah Farooqi (9818461817), Amabarien Al Qadar (9810946273), Haris ul Haq (9310663564), Tanweer Fazal (9968822925), Shakeb Ahmed (9811435653).