New Delhi/Azamgarh
To mark the third anniversary of Batla House ‘encounter’, various civil rights groups, social organisations and political parties are organising various programmes both in Delhi and Azamgarh between 18th and 20th of this month.
On the eve on the infamous ‘encounter’, 18th September, various civil society groups will be marching to Prime Minister’s office from Batla House demanding justice. The organisers of the march include, Aasha Pravivar, National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM), Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD), Yuva Koshish, Lohiya Vichar Manch, Sadbhawana Mission and many others. According to a press release, the purpose of the peace march are many folds, while it is to reiterate our demand for justice in the case of so-called Batla House ‘encounter’ and subsequent arrests, at the same time we also demand for clubbing of such cases and setting of a fast track tribunal to solve the cases related to blasts.
Meanwhile, on 19th of September in Sanjarpur, Azamgarh, People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) along with Shaikh Rajab Ali Social and Welfare Society, is organising a day long National Human Rights’ Convention.
According to Rajiv Yadav, Organising Secretary of PUCL, Uttar Pradesh, the convention will deliberate the issue of communal polarisation and judicial communalism. Senior Journalist and former executive Editor of Tehelka, Ajit Sahi, Social Activist Arudhonty Dhuru, Advocate Mohd. Shoaib, Journalist Prashant Rahi, Former IPS S R Darapuri, Peace Activist Yugul Kishore Shastri and many others will be participating in the convention.
On the following day, All India Students’ Association (AISA) and Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA) will be organising a public meeting on “Politics of Fake Encounters, Framing and Witch-Hunt of Minorities”, in the afternoon at Batla House near Khalillulah Masjid. On this occasion a fact finding report of the visits to Azamgarh and Malegaon will also be released.
It is also reported that this year too, the Rashtriya Ulema Council is bringing three trains full of people from Azamgarh to protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.
In 2008 on 19th September, on 4th floor of L-18, Batla House in Delhi’s Jamia Nagar area, two youths of Azamgarh were killed in a shootout, which was later claimed to be an encounter by special cell of Delhi police. In this shootout, one of the officers of Delhi police Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma also lost his life. However, from the very first day Human and Civil Rights’ organistions and activists are demanding an independent judicial enquiry into the shootout. The post-mortem report of the deceased also pointed towards the encounter being a fake one.