New Delhi, March 9
A day after the verdict in the Batla House encounter case, the ruling BJP on Tuesday slammed Opposition parties Congress, TMC, SP and AAP for allegedly supporting terrorists for the sake of vote bank politics and portraying the Delhi Police as “murderers”.
The BJP demanded a “proper inquiry” into the matter on how an alleged sustained campaign for vested political interests affected the morale of the police.
“We know how scared the Delhi Police were at that time because of this sustained campaign. It is shameful how leaders of the party, whose government led by Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, gave Ashok Chakra to late Mohan Chand Sharma, hounded the Delhi Police,” Union Minister Ravi Shakar Prasad claimed.
Prasad said at the time of the incident, the BJP was in the Opposition and that many Delhi Police officials approached them. “They requested to save them as there was a concerted effort to label them as murderers,” Prasad said.
“Congress leader Salman Khurshid had said pictures of the Batla House encounter case had brought tears to the eyes of Sonia Gandhi. Will she now apologise to the country, will Mamata Banerjee say sorry to the nation,” Prasad said, calling Monday’s conviction in the Batla House encounter “a triumph of India’s judicial process, a validation of the courage shown by the Delhi Police officials in containing terrorism and a closure to the rampant vote bank politics which happened in the past 12 years”.
“The verdict shows how in issues related to country’s security the Congress and some other parties stood in favour of terrorists and tried to shatter the morale of the Delhi police. Ariz Khan was a serial killer and a terrorist who was caught in 2018 from Nepal during the regime of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which is how this trial could take place,” he said.
Quoting senior Congress leaders Salman Khurshid and Digvijaya Singh, the BJP leader said, “Deliberate attempts were made to cast doubts over the encounters and to support terrorists for vote bank politics.” He also quoted late Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and TMC leader and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee who together demanded a judicial probe into the incident.
“What do you have to say now,” he said, questioning Mamata, Salman Khurshid and Digvijaya Singh. “They made it a national issue, can you weaken the fight against terrorism for vote bank politics,” he said, also questioning AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal for similar demands.
A Delhi court on Monday convicted Ariz Khan for killing Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma in the Batla House encounter, which took place in the national capital on September 19, 2008.
Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Yadav ruled: “The evidence adduced on record by the prosecution leaves no matter of doubt that the prosecution has proved the case beyond all reasonable doubt and that the accused is liable to be convicted.”
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