Eight SIMI activists were killed in an alleged encounter with police on the outskirts of Bhopal
As the Madhya Pradesh police faced questions over the killing of eight members of the banned Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) on Monday, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said the police or forces should not be questioned.
"It is not good to raise questions on security forces dealing with terrorists, just on the basis of videos," Mr Rijiju, the Minister of State for Home, said today.
Mr Rijiju said facts will come out soon and criticized the "habit" of raising doubts and questioning the authorities and police in such incidents.
"We are facing challenges on the border with ceasefire violations. Our forces are responding," he told reporters in New Delhi.
Mr Rijiju was responding to questions on the jailbreak by SIMI members who were shot dead hours later by the Bhopal police.
Mobile phone videos appear to contradict the police version of the encounter. In one video, a policeman is seen shooting at an inert body at close range (NDTV cannot verify authenticity of these videos). In another video, the fugitives are seen standing at a distance, waving, as a policeman says: "Five men are trying to talk to us. Surround them." Gunshots are heard next.