The Social Democratic Party of India, (SDPI), while condemning the Bhopal “encounter” of 8 SIMI under-trials has said that there are many loopholes in the police version of the incident account which raises many eyebrows. As such this Bhopal melodrama appears to be a fake, dubious and “stage managed” encounter and it becomes another extension of dubious records of such heinous crimes by the law enforcing agencies in the country.
SDPI national president A. Sayeed in a statement said that it is very astonishing and surprising as to how the 8 SIMI jail inmates were able to break through three-layered security ring of the Bhopal Central jail. The jail was considered to be a breach-proof ISO-certified prison from where the SIMI under-trials escaped with such impunity in quick time of about 20 minutes that none of the guards on duty were able to see. The jail-break theory is just cooked-up which is hard for public consumption. Chief Minister Mr. Shivaraj Singh Chauhan should quit the post taking the moral responsibility of violation of rule of law and contempt of judiciary. A thorough probe by only a sitting Supreme Court judge can unravel the truth and expose the powers that were in play in the whole episode, he added.
Sayeed questioned the discrepancies and negligence in the alleged jailbreak by SIMI under-trials and their police encounter theory. The fact that the Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bhupendra Singh said that the SIMI operatives did not have firearms while Inspector General of Police of Bhopal range Yogesh Chowdhary claimed these under-trials had fired on police, only added to the range of questions raised.
He wondered: (i) How did the SIMI men get access to branded clothes, sports shoes, wrist watches and bands that they sported when killed?; (ii) What weapons did the operatives exactly use in the alleged encounter with police?; (iii) How and where did they procure these alleged weapons as they were gunned down within 10 Km of jail in 10 hours of escaping?; (iv) Why were the escaped operatives moving around together, something that would make them highly suspicious?; (v) If they could procure weapons, why did not they procure a vehicle to make quick escape? Why did they move towards open space where they couldn’t hide?; (vi) How did they scale 30-feet wall of jail using bed sheets, something physically impossible?; (vii) Weren’t there other security guards present on the jail campus and these operatives opened/broke lock after lock? & (viii) Why no other jail inmates escape when these operatives left a wide trail and open doors behind them?
Sayeed said that it is a perfectly planned fake encounter. All the SIMI activists were under-trial and soon were supposed to be released. However, to make this fake encounter appear genuine one policeman was killed unnecessarily. The rule of law is supreme but it is for court to prove and sentence anyone, otherwise extrajudicial killing is a murder.
