Truth revealed: Ishrat Jahan proved innocent
By Pratiti Chakraborty
With the verdict on Ishrat Jahan out, the Ahmedabad police will have to find a strong statement to come out of it.
Once again Gujarat seems to be surrounded by a controversy. Ishrat Jahan, an alleged Islamic terrorist, was killed in Ahmedabad in 2004. There were several claims that her encounter may have been staged. These claims have now been accepted by the Special Investigation team.
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| Mourners carrying the body of Ishrat Jahan Photo Credit: Punit Paranjpe/Reuters |
Ishrat Jahan was a teenager from Mumbra in her second year of college. Hailing from a lower middle class family, she had to work in order to support her education. One day she left her home as usual, never to return. Ishrat and three of her companions were gunned down by the Gujarat police. Police claimed that they were associated to the Islamic terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba and were in Gujrat to kill Narendra Modi.
A three member Special Investigation Team concluded that the murder of Ishrat Jahan and three others were victims of a fabricated case by the Ahmedabad police.
Senior IPS officer Satish Verma had expressed uncertainty about the circumstances of the encounter. This is not the first time that the Gujarat police has acted under the orders of senior politicians and staged a murder. Under the pretext of protecting the political leaders, there have been a few such instances in the past. Ishrat and her associates were, apparently, in Gujarat to avenge the happenings of the communal riots of 2002.
The police was not been able to provide sufficient proof in any of the cases of the victim’s involvement with the terrorist groups. However, nothing seems to stop them from repeatedly being involved in such killings. Who should be blamed in such cases? It is not easy to take a stand and support either of the sides.
The police are acting on the orders issued to them by the senior officials and politicians. At the same time if we are to believe that Ishrat’s motive was to assassinate Modi, can she be blamed. After the atrocities they faced, as a community, how does one seek solace? One can call it revenge, but is it not a form of justice where it has failed to be served.
Sources: Times of India, Hindustan Times, Rediff.com
The Ishrat Jahan case should disturb all right-thinking cops:
The Ishrat Jahan case should disturb all right-thinking cops:
Timeline: The Ishrat Jahan encounter case:
Modi's cops implicates in fake encounter killing of Ishrat Jahan: http://currentnews.in/2011/11/21/modi%E2%80%99s-cops-implicated-in-fake-encounter-killing-of-ishrat-jahan/
Justice in Gujarat: Fake encounters must be punished:
Investigating officer's role under scanner:
