Cong MLA asks Kejriwal to probe Batla House case

Says Delhi chief minister not fulfiling promises made in poll manifesto

There was high drama at the ‘report card’ press conference of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) here on Thursday as a Congress legislator tried to disrupt the event.

Asif Mohammad Khan, Congress’ member of the legislative assembly (MLA) from the Okhla constituency, interrupted when Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was taking questions from reporters at the Delhi Secretariat.

Khan vowed not to vote for Kejriwal in the Assembly as well. “Even if my party expels me, I do not care. I will not vote for Kejriwal in the House,” said the Congress MLA.

Khan said Kejriwal went back on a promise to probe the Batla House encounter of September 2008 as mentioned in the AAP’s manifesto.

The party’s manifesto released in November 2013, had stated: “Ensure fake encounters and false cases against Muslim youths shall end.”

This comes a day after Kejriwal had met Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung and made a request for a special investigation team (SIT) to look into the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The manifesto had also  mentioned about bringing justice to sufferers in the 1984 riots.

“We have received positive response from the governor and we will discuss the setting up of a SIT and its term in the Cabinet meeting next week,” Kejriwal said on Thursday, while stating AAP’s achievements after one month in power in Delhi. Khan accused Kejriwal of lying and deceiving the people of Delhi , as he had promised relief to thousands of Muslims during his campaign, Khan said.

In an open letter titled ‘Politics of Brotherhood', Kejriwal, in July last year, had mentioned the Batla encounter case and said: "(Also) in case of Batla House, several people have a doubt if those youth needed to be killed or could they have been arrested alive? If they were terrorists, it was pertinent to arrest them and reach their handlers. But if they were innocent, shouldn't the police personnel present on the occasion be punished?"

The encounter had taken place in the Jamia Nagar locality under the Okhla constituency. A Delhi Police team reached Batla House suspecting some militants were occupying flats in the region. During an encounter that followed, two of the five flat occupants – Atif Ameen and Mohd Sajid – were killed. A Delhi Police inspector, Mohan Chand Sharma, too, was killed in the cross-fire.

A Delhi court later held the police raid as genuine.