America
Fake encounter killings in Telangana are an outrage against the rule of law says IAMC
Killing of five youth while they were handcuffed on their
way to court in a police van warrants a judicial probe
Indian American Muslim Council, an advocacy group dedicated
to safeguarding India's
pluralist and tolerant ethos ethos has called the Telangana police killing
of five detainees in a transportation van, a fake encounter and a case of "custodial
killing." The five youth with alleged links to Students' Islamic Movement
of India (SIMI), were being transported to a Hyderabad court for a hearing. Video footage
of the police van given to Amnesty International by a journalist, shows five
youth in the van after they were killed. All five were seen handcuffed in
the video. The custodial killings are widely seen as revenge for two
separate encounters in which fierce gun battles involving alleged members
of SIMI with law enforcement in Telangana left four policemen dead.
"The killing of police personnel is condemnable in the
strongest possible terms," stated Mr. Umar Malick, President of IAMC.
"However, the fact that the state chose to respond with the custodial
killing of five handcuffed undertrials in a police van, should send alarm bells
ringing for all who care about accountability and the rule of law," added
Mr. Malick.
In a separate incident, 20 suspected sandalwood smugglers
were brutally gunned down by the police in Andhra Pradesh, prompting
the National Human Rights Commission of India to call it a "serious
violation of human rights."
IAMC has echoed calls by Amnesty International and other
civil liberties organizations in India for an independent probe into
the Telangana killings. In a statement reported in the media, Abhirr V P,
Senior Campaigner at Amnesty International India stated, "Impunity for
extrajudicial executions is a serious issue in India. Authorities in Telangana
need to urgently conduct an independent criminal investigation into the case to
determine if it involved extrajudicial executions disguised as 'encounter'
killings."
One of the prisoners gunned down was Viqaruddin who had been
framed by the police in the Mecca Masjid bomb blasts in 2007, and was among the
50 people that were later acknowledged as "wrongly arrested."
This custodial killing is similar to several others that
have taken place in recent years, such as Mohammed Qateel in 2012 and Khalid
Mujahid in 2013, whose lives were cruelly snuffed out while in police
custody or serving time in prison. During Mr. Modi's tenure as Chief Minister
of Gujarat, there were several infamous cases
of fake encounters involving victims from the Muslim community. Ishrat Jahan, a 19 year old girl from Mumbai was
gunned down by the Gujarat police along with
three other men in 2004. The encounter was carried out by disgraced Deputy
Inspector General of Police D.G. Vanzara who was also implicated in the fake
encounter killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in 2007.
Vanzara has been released from prison after the Hindu
nationalist government of the BJP came to power. In a resignation letter while
in prison, he had gone on record stating that fake encounter killings in
Gujarat were carried out with full knowledge and sanction of the Gujarat state government, then headed by Mr. Modi as
Chief Minister. Forty other policemen accused of fake encounters have been released
in Gujarat alone, under the new
administration.
Indian American Muslim Council is the largest advocacy
organization of Indian Muslims in the United States with chapters across
the nation.
For more information, please visit http://www.iamc.com