The killing of Ishrat Jehan exemplifies the political rot that has pervaded our criminal judicial system.
Never before have we seen such volte-face and flip flops by the government at the centre, a state government and individual officers of the bureaucracy, all of whom have sworn to uphold the law of the land and the provisions of the Constitution. This is what I referred to in my speech in parliament this speech, generating considerable feedback.
Within two months of the encounter, Ishrat Jehan's mother, Shamima Kauser, filed a writ petition in the Gujarat High Court in an effort to prove her daughter's innocence.
What followed next was an investigation that from Day One has been characteristic of vote bank politics - a highly politicized agenda and individual officers who have been used as political puppets, thereby eroding the credibility of the Intelligence Bureau and CBI.
The SIT or Special Investigation Team ordered by the Gujarat High Court was mandated to be headed by an IPS officer from outside the state.
However, due to the political pressure, no police officer from outside the state was willing to be part of the investigation team. And those who joined the political games were duly rewarded either politically or professionally. While some have received political nominations, others have been promoted to positions of power within the bureaucracy. The entire investigation has been maligned from the very beginning with Ishrat Jehan being collateral damage.
All three inquiries into the case have concluded that the encounter was fake - the Additional Judicial Magistrate of Ahmedabad, the SIT or Special Investigation Team and the CBI. The matter is now sub-judice and to be decided by the courts. The politics of labeling of Ishrat Jehan as a terrorist over the years is nothing more than an attempt to justify an alleged staged encounter.
The first affidavit filed by the Ministry of Home Affairs was signed by an advocate under the allurement of becoming a High Court judge. It bases Ishrat Jehan's Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) links on her presence in the company of known activists and operatives of the LeT. The affidavit established her as an operative of the LeT based on articles published by several Indian newspapers that quoted the
Ghazwa Times, a magazine of the Jamaat-Ud-Dawa declaring Ishrat Jehan's martyrdom.
However, this was subsequently retracted by Jamaat-ud-Dawa, along with an apology to Ishrat's family. Do such articles and press releases form intelligence to be acted upon without corroborating evidence? Is this the level of intelligence capabilities in India?
The much-publicized testimony of David Headley in February 2016 that established Ishrat Jehan as a LeT activist is even more questionable. Headley was given an option to choose amongst the names of three suicide bombers to which he responded, "I think it was the second one. I have heard the name Ishrat Jehan".
It has been three years since the CBI filed the charge-sheet in 2013 and the case has still not moved. The seven accused from Gujarat police are out on bail, three of them have retired and the four still in service have been promoted. One is the Director-General of Police in Gujarat. Why is the CBI going slow?
The issue of Ishrat Jehan being a terrorist has nothing to do with the case. If she was innocent and collateral damage in a genuine encounter that is well within the law, then ownership should have been taken. If she was a terrorist, she still had a right to trial in court. It is the duty of the courts to give the verdict of punishment. If we give the power of judge, jury and executioner to the police, we will have no control on the excesses. The only question to be answered is whether the encounter was staged.
There are serious allegations that the previous UPA Government used influence to change the course of the investigation to blame the then Gujarat Chief Minister and now Prime Minister as he was fast rising to become their biggest challenger in the 2014 general elections. The charges of torture and pressure by officials of the Intelligence Bureau and Home Ministry bear testimony to that. On the other hand, the current regime continues to label Ishrat Jehan as a terrorist to keep the politics of nationalistic vigilantism alive. In the rhetoric din, what's lost is the natural process of justice.
We are eating into the very roots of democracy and weakening our institutions. As lawmakers, we cannot be seen as partisan; we cannot be seen as breaking and manipulating the laws or trying to influence the progress of an investigation. It is time the judicial process and investigation agencies are freed of political influences.
Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo is a second-time sitting Member of Parliament from Bolangir in Odisha and a prominent leader of the Biju Janata Dal. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.