By Girish Nikam
The forthcoming general elections will be throwing up many issues which are bound to be taken up by the political class and the media for discussion as the campaign hots up. One however wonders whether what happened over five months back at the Batla House in the capital will be an issue, at all.

After frenzied interest over it when the Delhi special cell cops barged into the L 18 flat in the congested locality of Jamia Nagar and claimed to have eliminated two “dreaded terrorists” and arrested one more and two supposedly escaped, the interest has waned. When the Republic day awards were about to be announced there was another brief bout of interest. Some mild questions were raised about the appropriateness of an Ashok Chakra for Mohan Chand Sharma, the Inspector who was allegedly caught in the cross fire and killed during the encounter. And it was promptly forgotten soon after the Government succumbed to populist pressure and conferred the nation’s highest honour on him posthumously.

The Jamia Teachers Solidarity Group (JTSG), a collection of teachers of the Jamia Milia University, backed strongly and bravely, one should say, by its Vice Chancellor, Prof.Mushirul Hasan have however not given up. With four of the eight arrested including, one of the killed, Atif Amin having been students or ex-students of the University, the Group has continued to fight for their rights and the truth.

So what’s the truth about the Batla House encounter? No one really knows even today. The JTSG which released a report earlier this week has raised a whole of questions which are still “unanswered”. The most scandalous of it, for any nation which prides itself on upholding the rule of law, is that even five and half months after the encounter, we still have no access to the post mortem reports of the two “dreaded terrorists” one aged 24(Atif Amin) and other aged 17(Md.Sajid). What’s more shocking and shameful is that we don’t even have access to the Post mortem report of the Ashok Chakra awardee, M.C.Sharma.

So without this crucial evidence, the speculations continue as to how all the three were killed, which weapon was used which injured and later caused the death of Inspector Sharma, apart from many other questions which the report raises. The painstaking work done by the JTSG brings out the many contradictions, for instance about how many bullet marks were found on the Inspectors body. As far as the two boys were concerned, the report carries pictures of bullet wounds on the scalp of the 17 year old Sajid. So obviously he was down on the ground or was kneeling when he was shot. What does that mean? Was it because Sajid in true Bollywood filmi-style, was lying low and shooting when the police bullets hit him, or was he forced on his knees and shot in cold blood?

There is also a picture of Atif with his back skinned. How did that happen? Surely not when he was firing and he was fired back in self defence? This and too many other inconvenient questions have been raised which beg for answers.

Assuming the various theories given by the police is true about the inmates of L 18, firing on the cops when they entered is true, why are the police and worse the Government of India, under which is the Delhi police, not willing to release the post mortem reports of the three?

There is another serious violation of the norms laid out by the National Human Right Commission, which incidentally has not covered itself with glory in this entire affair. The guidelines about encounter deaths says that “No out of turn promotion or instant gallantry rewards shall be bestowed on the concerned officers soon after the occurrence—and it must be recommended–when the gallantry of the concerned officer is established beyond doubt”.

No one who is willing to go through the JTSG report with an open mind can agree that Sharma’s “gallantry is established beyond doubt”.

But we have already put him in the martyrs’ hall of fame, and the UPA Government will have to carry this burden forever of having violated the NHRC guideline. Unfortunately even the widow and children of Mohan Chand Sharma cannot be as proud as the widows and children of co-awardees Hemant Karkare, Ashok Kamte, Maj. Sandeep Unnikrishnan and others. In fact it is this hasty and populist decision, which can even sabotage any efforts to bring out the truth behind the encounter, unless the new Home Minister shows the courage and conviction to find out the truth.

The NHRC has unfortunately tried to wash its hands off the affair, claiming it can’t indulge in a parallel enquiry when already investigations and prosecution is on. But as Colin Gonsalves, the gutsy human rights lawyer, pointed out at the release of the report, “dammit, the whole idea of constituting the NHRC was to ensure that they conduct a parallel enquiry, so that cops who indulge in wrong doing are not allowed to get away scot free”. In fact the other NHRC guideline says that “a magisterial inquiry must invariably be held in all cases of death which occur in the course of police action”. And in this case no such inquiry has been ordered even after five and half months. Worse the Lt.Governor of Delhi even refused to grant permission for such an inquiry. On what grounds and authority did the Lt.Governor refuse a mandated magisterial inquiry?

The 58 page report is an eye opener to many irregularities and illegalities which have been perpetrated ever since the Delhi serial blasts on Sept.13, 2008—-by the Delhi police special cell, the contradictions and confusion created by the media, the pussy footedness of the NHRC and most sadly the helplessness of the dozens and dozens of people randomly suspected and picked up for being involved in terrorism and tortured and let off for lack of any evidence.

Let us assume that all this is exaggerated or not true or just some “minor excesses committed” in combating the dreaded curse which has befallen on many parts of the world, as many including a section of the media believes it to be. The question to those who argue on these lines is if that be the case, why should the authorities than resist a probe?

Is it their argument that we should ignore the rule of law and abandon all norms of fairplay? Can political parties explain their silence in the face of basic laws and norms being abandoned?

Can we as a democracy afford to sweep under the carpet all these questions which are staring us on the face, not to mention the fear in the minds and faces of an entire community, whom every political party tries to woo in this election season?

Should this be allowed to be an issue concerning just one minority community, which no doubt is infested with a section, which in its misguided zeal is making common cause with terrorist thought and actions. Is it not an issue which people of every community, caste and religion needs to be exercised about, and not just the JTSG?

So will the coming campaign season see voters asking every political party to put on the table their agenda not just about tackling terrorism, but how they will tackle it? And will the UPA Government, before it starts going to the people seeking another term in office, undo the damage it has done to the concept of rule of law by ordering an inquiry into the Batla House encounter?