Jamia teachers protest against ‘encounter killings’

Bombay News.Net

Friday 14th August, 2009 (IANS)

New Delhi, Aug 14(IANS) Teachers of Jamia Millia Islamia University Friday staged a protest at ITO crossing here against what they called ‘encounter killings’ by the state police forces in various parts of the country.

‘We are protesting against the encounter killings by state forces, the arbitrary arrests of Muslim youth and the blatant whitewashing of such crimes by state agencies. All this in the name of national security and war against terror,’ Manisha Sethy, president of Jamia Teachers Solidarity Associaton, told IANS.

Jamia teachers, who came along with members of the All India Students’ Association (AISA) and Manipur Students Association of Delhi, said the ‘cold-blooded murder’ of Chungkham Sanjit, a 27-year old Manipur man in broad daylight July 23 by the Manipur Police Commandos was an evidence.

They pointed out that he was murdered barely 500 metres from the state assembly building in Imphal and this showed ‘the sordid truth’ of how people were being indiscriminately killed in the name of gun battles with the police.

After holding a meeting near the Delhi police headquarters at ITO crossing, the protesting teachers took out a ‘funeral procession’ to highlight their grouse.

The protesters said from time to time innocent people were being killed in the name of war against terror.

They said the killing of two alleged terrorists by Delhi Police in Batla House here Sep 19 last would have been treated as ‘another routine encounter if not for the nationwide outcry from human rights groups, students and academics’.

They criticised the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for giving a clean chit to Delhi Police in the Batla House gunbattle, saying the rights panel had merely gone by the police version and not spoken to any eyewitnesses.

The rights panel exonerated Delhi Police in the Batla House gunbattle, in which police inspector M.C. Sharma, described as ‘encounter specialist’, was killed together with two alleged terrorists, they said.

The two, suspected to be Indian Mujahideen terrorists and identified as Atif Amin and Mohammed Sajid, were killed while two others – Mohammed Saif and Zeeshan – were overpowered and arrested.