Comments
The Congress on Thursday demanded to know if the BJP supported extrajudicial killings in after the ruling party maintained that Ishrat Jahan, the 19-year-old gunned down in Gujarat along with three others on June 15, 2004, was a “terrorist”.
The Congress sought to distinguish between Jahan’s possibility of being a terrorist, and her death in a fake encounter.
The party said the latter was a fact established by the report of a Metropolitan Magistrate and a court-appointed investigation.
‘Believe a terrorist?’
The BJP relied on the testimony of Mumbai terror-accused David Headley to point out that the Congress, during the ten years of UPA rule, used central probe agencies to target the Gujarat government for hunting down “terrorists” such as Jahan. The disclosure by Headley in no way annuls the fact that Ishrat Jahan was killed in a fake encounter.
On demand for apology
On the BJP’s demand for an apology from Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice-President Rahul Gandhi for misusing Central agencies to “defame” then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and his deputy Amit Shah, the Congress said the ruling party was unable to understand the difference between “mob justice” and the Constitutional procedure which lays down laws in a civilised society.
‘Law forbids encounters’
“If the current Government or the BJP wants to use the testimony of a smuggler-cum-terrorist such as David Coleman Headley to justify an encounter which a court-monitored investigation has found to be fake, then, I am afraid, neither the law and nor jurisprudence allows it,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said. Tewari said even if a person is a terrorist, he has to be tried under Indian laws and convicted – as Ajmal Kasab and Afzal Guru were.
“If a person is a terrorist, he needs to be arrested, he needs to be tried, he needs to be brought to justice like Afzal Guru was brought to justice or Ajmal Kasab was brought to justice. But to try and justify a fake encounter, I am afraid, is something which the law does not permit,” said Tewari.
In the light of these facts, said Tewari, the only way the killing of Ishrat Jahan can be justified is if the “ruling party is in favour of extrajudicial killings”.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.