PUNE: The encounter by the Gujarat police in 2004 in which four innocent people including a young girl were killed had led to a relative of one of the deceased to call on Thursday for no more delays in punishing the police officers involved.
A probe by a judicial magistrate SP Tamang had revealed that the victims were innocents and were killed in an incident that was reported falsely to portray the police as heroes in order to earn promotions and win Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s appreciation.
Asif Shaikh, whose brother-in-law Javed Shaikh was killed in the encounter said here on Thursday that the Gujarat government should take immediate action.
“Allah has answers as the judge who investigated and probed the whole case has declared the people killed in this encounters are innocent. We are now pursuing the two petitions filed by the family of one of the victim Ishrat Jehan and by Javed Shaikh’s father Govindan Pillay before the Gujarat High Court,” Asif said. Asif also said the high court should award compensations to the victims’ family members who were killed in the encounter.
Asim Sarode, lawyer and human rights activist who is representing Javed’s wife Sajeda, said that the incident merits action against the police officers and compensation for the next-of-kin of the murdered people. The lawyer also demanded that the Gujarat government apologize for the incident and for contributing to false branding the victims of the crime as Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists.
