New Delhi, July 24 (Inditop.com) Teachers of Jamia Millia Islamia university staged a protest at the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) office here Friday against its clean chit to Delhi Police in the Batla House gun battle September 2008, saying the rights panel had merely gone by the police version and not spoken to any eyewitness.
The teachers demanded a judicial probe into the incident.
“We reject the report of the NHRC. We are protesting against the decision of the NHRC to give a clean chit to Delhi Police. They have taken only the police version into account. NHRC officials never visited the area and did not speak to any of the eyewitness. We demand a judicial probe,” Tanwir Fazal, an assistant professor of sociology at the university, told IANS.
Noting that the panel is tasked to protect the civilian rights from encroachment by the state, Fazal said, “But in this case the NHRC has supported the violation of human rights by state agency.”
A four-member team, headed by the NHRC’s acting chairman G.P. Mathur, submitted its report on the gun battle near Batla House in south Delhi to a division bench of of the Delhi High Court, comprising Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice Manmohan.
Police inspector M.C. Sharma, described as “encounter specialist”, was killed during the gun battle Sep 19, 2008, in the aftermath of the serial blasts in the national capital.
Two suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorists, identified as Atif Amin and Mohammed Sajid, were killed while two – Mohammed Saif and Zeeshan – were arrested.
The court ordered the NHRC inquiry into the shootout on a plea of NGO Act Now For Harmony and Democracy, which questioned the police version of the incident.
