Ahmedabad:
Who is to blame for the murders of 19-year-old Ishrat Jehan, and the three men who were killed with her by the Gujarat Police in 2004?
The Gujarat government has rejected the Tamang inquiry, which said Ishrat was innocent and was killed in cold-blood by policemen hoping to impress Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP state government has been saying that after all, the Union government also filed an affidavit which said Ishrat, and her boyfriend, Javed, had links to the LeT.
But this is how the Central government explains its position. It says its affidavit was cleared at the Home Secretary level in 2006. It was also reviewed by the current Home Secretary. The government says it had clear intelligence of Javed's links to the LeT. He met LeT handlers in Oman, and had two passports. The government says that it had documented evidence that Ishrat and Javed travelled together as a married couple to cities including Ahmedabad. But the Home Ministry was not involved in how Ishrat and Javed were killed, so the responsibility for the encounter lies solely with the Gujarat Police.
What the Central government needs to explain is why it waited for three years to file this affidavit.
Ishrat Jehan, and her boyfriend, Javed were killed on June 14, 2004 by the Gujarat Police. Also shot were Isan Johar and Amjad Ali. The police claimed the four were on their way to assassinate Chief Minister Narendra Modi. But the case is surrounded with unanswered questions.
On record, the police claim that Jisan Johar and Amjad Ali were Pakistanis, and that they had Pakistani IDs in their pockets. Unlikely for terrorists on a mission to assassinate a politician. Not a single police bullet was found in the four bodies, instead they were riddled with bullets from the unlicensed weapons that the alleged terrorists were allegedly carrying.
Human rights activists argue that even if Javed or Ishrat had links with the LeT, this sort of encounter is unacceptable.
The Gujarat High Court has, meanwhile, stayed the Tamang report and ordered an inquiry against SP Tamang for giving his report to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate without getting the High Court's permission.
However, the court has given liberty to Ishrat's mother to produce the report before the three-member committee constituted by the High Court last month to investigate the encounter. It further said the report can be considered as evidenceby the committee.