By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: On the third anniversary of Batla house encounter, civil society and human rights groups, organized a protest march from Batla house, at Okhla, a Muslim suburb in New Delhi to the Prime Minister’s residence. It was against what the protesters termed as “ideology of fake encounters and illegal arrests of Muslim youths” after every bomb blasts in the country.
Hundreds of people including civil rights activists, students and residents of Delhi, who participated in the march, demanded an inquiry into what they term as “highly suspicious encounter” and at the same time questioned “subsequent arrest of youths in the country mostly in illegal manners.”
Addressing the gathering, Faisal Khan from National Alliance for People’s Movement (NAPM) said that, “Even the PM has accepted that minorities fear prosecution after bomb blasts. So peace can’t be possible for the people affected by this psychology of fear, which unfortunately most of the Muslim youths are, unless the government and the investigative agencies, send a clear cut message that justice and investigation into these bomb blasts, can co-exist.”
Khan said that peace was possible only through justice and the way Batla house encounter was staged was a blot on the idea of justice. He demanded constitution of a commission of enquiry which could investigate into all the bomb blasts and encounters including Batla house encounter
VK Tripathi from Sadbhawna Mission attributed the fake encounters and illegal arrest of Muslim youths to the growth of communalization which in turn is a byproduct of corporatization of the Indian society.
The speakers on this occasion highlighted the fact that in spite of strong evidence pointing to the staged ‘encounter,’ demands for an independent, unbiased probe into the killings were rejected by the Home Ministry on the ground that the Special Cell of Delhi Police, which conducted the ‘encounter’ was above suspicion, and any probe would ‘lower the morale’ of the force.
They also said that, just in the past few moths there had been several instances when Delhi courts ordered, an FIR to be filed against personnel belonging to Special Cell, for several crimes ranging from staging a fake encounter of residents of Kashmir, to extorting money from innocent people in Delhi.
Asad Ashraf, a student leader from Jamia Millia Islamia questioned the hallowed image of Special cell, “the very fact that a court of law has indicted people from Special Cell for illegally staging a fake encounter, proves how criminal can the Special Cell personnel can be. If the Home Ministry still considers the agency, beyond suspicion, then it’s nothing but another criminal act.”
Shadab, a student of journalism in Delhi University said that framing of innocents and witch-hunting of Muslims, were norms rather than the exception in terror-investigations in the country.
The protest march couldn’t reach Prime Minister’s residence because Delhi police stopped the protestors in the vicinity of Jamia Millia Islamia itself.
Organizations which participated in the protest march include National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM), ANHAD, Asha Parivar, Yuva Koshish, Lohiya Vichar Manch, Sadhbhavana Mission, Khudai Khidmatgar, Inqalab Zindabad, Qaumi Raabta Council besides several others.