A year after policemen killed two youths allegedly involved in serial blasts here, some local residents still believe that the gun battle was "stage-managed"
A year after policemen swooped on a flat in Jamia Nagar in South Delhi, killing two youths allegedly involved in serial blasts here, some local residents still believe that the gun battle was "stage-managed".
The gun battle on September 19 at L-5, Batla House also claimed the life of decorated encounter specialist of Delhi police special cell Mohan Chand Sharma.
Sharma, who was leading the team, died after he was hit by a bullet fired by an alleged terrorist and was later posthumously honoured with the Ashok Chakra.
The police action came after they tracked the cellphone of Atif Amin, who was believed to have led the team, which planted bombs in several places of the capital on September 13 last year, triggering five blasts killing 26 and injuring 133.
Locals allege that police staged the encounter to ward off pressure after the blasts. They had even approached National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) over the issue, which, however, gave a clean chit to police in the matter.
Mohd Haneef, a resident of Jamia Nagar, said many locals were still not convinced about the "genuineness" of the gun battle. "If they (the authorities) are clean on this, why are
they stonewalling a judicial probe," he asked.
Asked about the investigation into the encounter, Delhi police chief YS Dadwal said the case is still "under probe". "We are watching the case. We did not want to interfere earlier as the case was being handled in the High Court and NHRC," he said.
For another resident Kamruddin, the "issue has not died". "We have lost our boys. It is in our minds and we are not going to forget it. We cannot forget this trauma very easily," he said.
Jamia Teachers' Solidarity Association has also echoed the sentiments of locals demanding a judicial probe into the encounter and speedy justice for the accused. "Government is responsible for delivering justice to people. But in Batla case, it seems to be otherwise. We demand a judicial probe as justice is being denied," said Manisha
Sethy, a representative of the association.
Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court order giving a clean chit to the police in Batla House encounter case has been challenged in the Supreme Court by an NGO 'Act Now For Harmony and Democracy'.
It claimed that the High Court has erred in accepting the findings of NHRC which had dismissed the allegations that it was a "fake" encounter.
The NGO pleaded that the High Court did not go into the merits of the case and only relied on the Commission's report on the ground that it is a statutory body whose findings
cannot be questioned.
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