By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: Marking the first anniversary of the Batla House encounter today, several human and civil rights organizations jointly held a sit-in in the premises of the District Magistrate office in Azamgarh, demanding a judicial enquiry into the encounter.
Under the banner of People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Sanjarpur Sangharsh Samiti, Karvan and a local body of journalists, about 150 people including women from several villages of the district took part in the demonstration.
At the end of the sit-in the protestors submitted a memorandum with the SDM (sadar), Azamgarh. The memorandum is addressed to the President of India.
Tarique Shafique, head of Sanjarpur Sangharsh Samiti, told TwoCircles.net that the memorandum consisted of three main demands: judicial enquiry into the Batla House encounter, an end to minority witch-hunting and fake encounters and an end to false implication of Muslim youths in terror cases.
Sandeep Panday of PUHR and Chitranjan Singh, head of UP PUCL also attended the agitation. Panday visited Sanjarpur — the village of Sajid who was killed in the September 19, 2008 encounter in Jamia Nagar. He assured the victim families that he would file a PIL for the missing youths.