Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association: Staging an ‘Encounter’: Madhya Pradesh Police Style
Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association
Staging an ‘Encounter’: Madhya Pradesh
Police Style
The brazen killing is linked to the bogey
of SIMI being raised in the state for long
Questions are being rightfully raised about
the suspicious circumstances in which eight under trial prisoners are alleged
to have escaped from the Bhopal Central Jail, and then gunned down in a
supposed encounter less than 12 hours later, less than ten kilometres away from
the jail. Far too many discrepancies about the course of events, about the
modus operandi of the jail break, and the ‘weapons’ they were carrying have
emerged in the statements of the various state officials.
Madhya Pradesh police version is full of contradictions
Madhya Pradesh police version is full of contradictions
SIMI men’s jailbreak and eventual killing: 5 unanswered questions
The major contention lies in the dissimilar comments made by Bhopal IG Yogesh Chaudhary & state ATS chief Sanjeev Shami. Chaudhary said the SIMI men were killed in retaliatory firing; Shami told TV channels that the men could not have fired as they did not possess arms. Chaudhary said 4 firearms and 3 sharp weapons were recovered from the men... what explains the contradictory stands of the top cops in the state. If the men did not have arms, then there is no basis for ‘retaliatory firing.’
The major contention lies in the dissimilar comments made by Bhopal IG Yogesh Chaudhary & state ATS chief Sanjeev Shami. Chaudhary said the SIMI men were killed in retaliatory firing; Shami told TV channels that the men could not have fired as they did not possess arms. Chaudhary said 4 firearms and 3 sharp weapons were recovered from the men... what explains the contradictory stands of the top cops in the state. If the men did not have arms, then there is no basis for ‘retaliatory firing.’
Photographic and
video evidence points to the staged nature of the encounter killing – down to
the new clothes and shoes the undertrials were wearing, the suitcases lying
strewn around the dead bodies, the gleaming knife a brave police officer
recovers from the lifeless body. From the police version it appears that the
Eight spent their short-lived time after jail break togging up in jeans and
sports shoes, procuring dry fruits, suitcases and country made revolvers while
giving no thought to really escaping the area. They did not even bother to
split up.
The Madhya Pradesh police and
administration has predictably brushed aside the criticism ignoring the
multiple contradictions its own and government spokespersons have indulged
in. The Chief Minister has announced that
the NIA will probe the jailbreak but who is probing the ‘encounter’? Experience
shows, in most cases of encounter, FIRs are filed against the deceased rather
than the police party. The FIR in the
killing of the Eight must be made public; their killings must not be allowed to
fall into a legal blackhole.
No doubt, there will be those who will
point to the purported SIMI affiliations of the deceased to justify their
killings. Already, a central minister has lauded the encounter as a ‘morale
booster’, as though nations need to be nourished by blood. In their book, a
genuine encounter is one in which an alleged terrorist is killed, and one in
which public perception can be managed successfully. Rule of Law however has a
different test. It demands that the police demonstrate that the killing was a
proportionate and justified response in face of murderous violence.
The cavalier way in which policemen can be
seen pumping bullets into the supine bodies – that too on camera – can be
understood in the context of the ease and success with which the SIMI bogey has
been raised in Madhya Pradesh.
It is remarkable that there have been no
incidents of terror attacks in Madhya Pradesh for the last many years. In fact,
the only incident of actual violence was a shootout in Teen Pulia area of
Khandwa district on 28 November 2009, in which three people, including an ATS
constable, Sitaram Batham died. The local police alleged that the motorcycle
borne assailant was a member of the outlawed association, SIMI. Except for this
solitary incident – and the veracity of the assailant's link to SIMI or even
whether this shootout was indicative of any terror activity rather than being
an instance of 'ordinary' criminality, was not established – there have been no
other incidents reported.
For a state with such a history, the number of cases
in which the accused were charged with furthering the activities of an unlawful
association under UAPA is fairly high. As our report, Guilt by Association
(2013) showed, cases are registered against former SIMI members, their friends
and acquaintances – and sometimes people with no links to either SIMI when it
was a lawful association, or any of its former members – in police stations in
Indore, Seoni, Khandwa, Bhopal, Burhanpur, Ujjain, Neemuch, Guna etc, practically
the entire state.
The FIRs are more or less identical – with
similar allegations (shouting slogans in favour of the banned organization
SIMI, vowing to take forward the cause, distributing pamhlets, possessing
banned SIMI literature, membership slips, Urdu posters etc). Sometimes, the set
of accused and the dates and time of the crime are also identical.
In some cases, the evidence of guilt is
identical: for example, the same copy of a magazine has been produced in at
least 4 different cases across the state. The same receipt of contribution to
SIMI funds has been produced as evidence in two different cases.
In another case, clippings of Dainik Jagran
newspaper, which carried stories about SIMI – especially story about Safdar
Nagori's narco analysis – have been submitted as proof of 'furthering of
activities of an unlawful association'. The Pithampur case of Dhar (FIR no.
120/2008), one of the most prominent SIMI cases of Madhya Pradesh is revealing
of the way in which SIMI cases are manufactured in the state. Arrests of 13
leading SIMI activists were allegedly made on 27 March 2008. Immediately after
the arrests, on 29 March 2008, the Senior Superintendent of Police, Dhar, shot
off letters to various districts of Madhya Pradesh asking for registration of
similar cases. These letters immediately set of a chain reaction, resulting in
18 cases within one month, and another four over next six months. This surely
must have been a record of sorts!
Many accused, appearing regularly in FIRs
across the state were later also arraigned in terror and blast cases outside
the state. Cases against Aquil Khilji, one of those killed, were regularly
registered from 2001 onwards, right from when SIMI was banned. Most of the
cases pertained to possession and distribution of ‘unlawful’ literature. In
June 2011, the Khandwa police claimed that they had raided Khilji’s house at
midnight and busted a SIMI meeting where Khilji and others were planning a
terror strike. Among those ‘arrested’ were Khaleel and Amjad, also killed in
the ‘encounter’. It might be interesting to note that while the police preened
through the media about this midnight raid carried on the intervening night of
13-14th June, families of Khaleel and Amjad had moved applications in the CJM’s
court complaining that the police had picked up and detained their sons between
10th- 12th June, failing to produce them before the magistrate even after the
lapse of 24 hours.
In response to these applications, the City Kotwali police
submitted to the CJM that though Khaleel had been called to the police station
on 10 June, he had not been detained thereafter. The police also claimed that
Amjad had not been traceable and could not be questioned. These responses are
dated 13th June. So, these foolhardy and senseless ‘SIMI’ activists had decided
to convene a meeting the same night – in the middle of being questioned and
searched by the police – to plan a terror strike.
Such are the SIMI stories of Madhya Pradesh
police. In trying to prove the ‘encounter’ genuine, they have outdone even
themselves. The killing must be situated
in this context of longstanding criminalization of SIMI, and these numerous
cases booked against Muslim men (and at least in one case, also two young women)
across the state.
Released by JTSA on 1st November 2016.
see also
Bharat
Bhushan - RSS chief Golwalkar threatened to kill Gandhi - 1947 CID report
Prajapati encounter case: Gujarat Police inspector Ashish Pandya reinstated in service
Gujarat reinstates another suspended cop after securing bail in Prajapati encounter case
DG Vanzara's letter - Times of India (2013)
Sumana Ramanan - clips of controversial Modi speeches made just after Gujarat riots (2014)
Gujarat reinstates another suspended cop after securing bail in Prajapati encounter case
DG Vanzara's letter - Times of India (2013)
Sumana Ramanan - clips of controversial Modi speeches made just after Gujarat riots (2014)
RSS men attacked us, police forced us to forego legal action, say Sonepat Dalits
