Five Muslim men were killed by the Telangana police in an “encounter” on Tuesday when the alleged terrorists tried to "overpower" the cops and “snatch their weapons” while being taken to Hyderabad for a court hearing. It sounds like a quintessentially Bollywoodesque plot, only the holes in it are too glaring even by the standards of a Bollywood flick.
Police say their vehicle stopped as one of the accused had to attend nature’s call. As soon as he returned, the five prisoners "attacked the police personnel and snatched a weapon to open fire. And it was when the other policemen shot and killed them on the spot.
This narrative raises some serious questions: How can the men “overpower” the police when they were handcuffed and chained to their seats? How come no policeman sustained any injuries if at all they were attacked? How come no cop showed any signs of struggle? How could five men suddenly become a threat to the lives of at least 18 well armed police personnel (S1 category security), and finally how come none of the prisoners were shot in the legs?
Let’s join the dots.
The Telangana police were already agitated over the deaths of four policemen in two separate encounters in Nalgonda district earlier last week, in which the police claimed to have killed two alleged SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India) activists. However, the police were left red-faced when Home Minister N. Narasimha Reddy said the slain suspects were just “UP gang robbers” and had nothing to do with SIMI.
On Tuesday, Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, among other community leaders, claimed that the so-called encounter is “revenge killing” by the police in retaliation to the killing of their colleagues by alleged SIMI operatives. Was this a preplanned murder to boost the morale of the state police?
A lawyer of the slain men said an attempt to stage an encounter was made once before when the jail shifting squad stopped the vehicle carrying the men in the middle of a highway and asked them to run. When they refused the police beat them up. One of the accused had filed an affidavit in the court detailing the incident. After this, the five feared for their lives and their families informed the authorities.
The advocate also questioned the motive of the police in shifting the men to the Warangal prison when their trial was ongoing in Hyderabad.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to replicate the famed “Gujarat model” across India, referring to the much-hyped development in his state.
However, Telangana seems to be replicating the “Gujarat model” in the context of fake encounters of Muslim youth under the alleged supervision of Modi’s top aide, Amit Shah. The killings of Ishrat Jahan and other Muslims in fake encounters in Gujarat are still fresh in minds.
Despite some recent failures of the Indian judicial system and investigating agencies (The Hashimpura massacre verdict due to lack of evidence and Shah’s exoneration in Ishrat’s encounter case), the common Indian man still has faith in it. An in-depth inquiry into the incident by a sitting High Court judge and immediate suspension of the cops involved is the least the government should do to allay the fears of India’s principal minority.
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