The Hindu : New Delhi News : Probe demanded into encounter

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Saturday, Sep 27, 2008
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Probe demanded into encounter

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Several members of the Jamia Millia Islamia faculty have demanded an independent impartial inquiry into the Batla House encounter that took place in Jamia Nagar here a week ago.

Under the umbrella of Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Group, a number of faculty members have condemned the “witch-hunt in the name of fighting terror.”

“There is an urgent need to reach out to the community which lives at our doorstep, and where a large number of teachers, administrative staff and our students reside. The locality has been besieged by a sense of alienation, terror and insecurity,” read a statement issued by the Group.

“The events of September 19 and the subsequent days have left the Jamia community shocked, aggrieved and fearful. In particular, the manner and the suspicious circumstances in which young boys, many of them students of Jamia, have been picked up by the Special Cell,” it added.

Illustrating the “vulnerability” of the people in the locality, the teachers have drawn attention to the detention of five school children living in the flat opposite L-18 at Batla House on the day of the encounter, who were released late at night.

Some teachers have also met the families of the two students — Mohammad Shakeel and Zia ur Rehman — who were arrested on Sunday and Mohammad Atif Ameen who was killed in the encounter.

“We demand that the University authorities see to it that no student [whether living in the hostel or not] is picked up/ arrested without intimating the authorities,” the teachers said.

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