Cong joins rights groups’ ‘one-sided version’ chorus

NEW DELHI: Congress on Sunday joined civil rights alarmists in questioning the NHRC���s recent clean chit to Delhi Police in the Batla House encounter, saying that the aggrieved parties should have been heard in the case.

���I have got complaints that the aggrieved parties were not given a chance to put their views before the commission. If this is true, I will draw the attention of the commission to the complaint,��� AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh told reporters in Lucknow in reply to a question. ���I am of the view that aggrieved parties should be given a chance to put their views in the case,��� he added.

The NHRC had, in its recent report on the Batla House encounter submitted to the Delhi High Court on July 20, given a clean chit to the Delhi Police saying that the police party, including the slain Inspector M C Sharma, had ���clearly acted in self-defence.���

���In such circumstances, the action taken by the police party in which Mohammed Atif Ameen and Mohammed Sajid received fatal injuries and died is fully protected by law,��� the panel concluded.

The report invoked angry reactions from the civil rights alarmists who accused the NHRC of merely relying on the police version. ���They have not even examined Saif, the third boy picked up by the police from the flat, nor even any of the witnesses of the Batla House area who had deposed before the People���s Tribunal. They have just swallowed the police version hook, line and sinker,��� said a citizens��� statement.

Incidentally, Mr Digvijay Singh���s backing for the grouse that the aggrieved parties were never heard by the NHRC comes even as the rights body has stated clearly in its report that ���there is ample and sufficient material before us which leads to the irresistible conclusion that there was imminent danger to the life of members of the police party.���

During its inquiry into the Batla House encounter, NHRC relied on the police���s version; the post mortem reports of Inspector M C Sharma, terrorists Atif Ameen and Mohd Sajid; the injury report of head constable Balwant Singh; and the biological examination report, the serological examination report and the fire arms examination report. The benefit of a magisterial inquiry report was not available, as such an inquiry was rejected by Lt Governor Tejinder Khanna in January.

For the record, NHRC mentioned the grounds that LG had quoted for ruling out a magisterial probe into the encounter.

These were: the finding that IM was involved in terrorist activities in various parts of the country over the last several years; confirmation of Atif and Sajid���s role in Delhi blasts dated September 13, 2008, during interrogation of the accused; the finding that Atif was a Simi member and head of IM north Indian module, had secured admission in Jamia on fake graduation certificates, had trained in Pakistan and was involved in Ahmedabad, Jaipur and UP court blasts as well; the recovery of data on Ahmedabad and Delhi blasts from Atif���s laptops and mobile phones; the finding that the second slain militant Sajid was IM member and also involved in the recent terror blasts; and the fact that Saif, the third terrorist present in Batla House, was apprehended unharmed and his statement that the terrorists were armed and fired at the cops.

LG recalled that the bodies of the deceased police officer as well as terrorists were duly examined by a panel of three doctors at AIIMS and cited the ongoing ���impartial and scientific investigation��� by the Crime Branch to rule out the need for any magisterial probe.