The Ishrat issue

Illegality of a fake encounter should not be overlooked

The controversy over the 2004 killing by police of the student Ishrat Jahan in Gujarat, brought once again into the limelight during the court deposition of double agent David Headley, refuses to go away. In the most recent developments, former Union home ministry officials including former Home Secretary G K Pillai said that then Home Minister P Chidambaram had recalled an affidavit sent to the Supreme Court on the killing of Jahan, removed statements regarding reports of confirmed links to Pakistan-based terrorists, and only then sent it to his bureaucrats for approval. Mr Chidambaram has agreed with this version of events, adding that the second affidavit "speaks for itself". While David Headley's testimony about Jahan was not of the sort to inspire confidence, a home minister's direct intervention in such a politically salient case - the current prime minister, during his re-election campaign in Gujarat, had made an issue of the threats to his life and to peace in the state from Pakistan-based terror groups - can raise many eyebrows.

What, however, is unfortunate is that the decision by the Union government to alter its affidavit to the Court seems to have overshadowed the actual central question of the case. Whether or not Jahan was a suspected terrorist is not the point; the point is: was she murdered in a staged encounter? It needs to be emphasised that, at the point at which she died, Jahan was innocent. She was innocent because she had not been proved guilty in a court of law, and until then she remains innocent, whatever the later-revealed suspicions of officers. In fact, there is not even any charge against Jahan for prior terrorist activity. In other words, what is being asked here is to defend not even the shooting of a person suspected to be guilty of terrorism, but of someone suspected of terrorist leanings. This is outrageous in any liberal society, and this is what should be the focus of any enquiry.

Multiple authorities, including court-appointed and monitored investigations, have indicated that the encounter in which Jahan and others were killed was staged. While fake encounters are not new in India, especially in areas where insurgencies are ongoing, this one came in a largely peaceful state and had major implications for political stability and harmony. Investigations are needed primarily to ensure that the rule of law cannot be upended with impunity. The questions remain: which police officers staged the encounter? Did they do so with political assent, or was there a cover-up subsequently? It should go without saying that even a terrorist has a right to a proper trial before sentence is passed - if officers of the state start shooting people on mere suspicion of associating with those who might have terrorist leanings, then the rule of law will break down swiftly. Whether or not Mr Chidambaram's change of the Union government's affidavit was necessary or justified is far less important, and the allegations against him should not be used to whitewash a staged encounter.