JD-U targets BJP over Ishrat Jahan

The Janata Dal-United (JD-U) Thursday targeted friend-turned-foe BJP over Ishrat Jahan, who hailed from Bihar, after the CBI said she was killed in cold blood by Gujarat Police.

Nine years after Ishrat Jahan was gunned down in an alleged shootout, the Central Bureau of Investigation Wednesday filed a chargesheet in a court naming at least six policemen as accused.

"Ishrat Jahan was a daughter of Bihar and she was killed in Gujarat. What crime did she committ? Why are BJP leaders in Bihar silent over the killing?" asked JD-U spokesperson Neeraj Kumar.

Ishrat Jahan's grandfather Wali Mohammad belonged to Khagaul area near Patna. Her father Mohammad Shamim had married Shamima Qausar of Jamalpur in Bihar. They later moved to Maharashtra.

Ishrat's maternal uncle Muzibbur Rehman is a teacher at the Patna-based National Institute of Technology.

"Ishrat Jahan's fake encounter in Gujarat has exposed the horrible ground reality in Gujarat," Neeraj Kumar said.

"A particular community is not safe and several of its youths were being killed in fake encounters" he said.

"We plant a tree after a girl child is born in Bihar and celebrate but one of our daughters was murdered in cold blood. It is shameful for BJP-ruled Gujarat," he said.

The JD-U dumped the BJP last month over the growing clout of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the BJP.