National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) on Tuesday demanded Supreme Court (SC) monitored Judicial Enquiry into Bhopal ‘Encounter.’
Social activist and (NAPM) leader Medha Patkar in a statement said, “NAPM expresses shock and condemns brutal killing of 8 under-trials near Bhopal by Madhya Pradesh police. Video footage of the incident that has emerged strongly suggests that the ‘encounter’ was staged. The footage shows unarmed men waving their bare hands; it shows no firearms on or near the bodies of the 8 men; it shows police shooting at men lying on the ground inert and prone.”
Patkar further said that the initial statements of the state Home Minister admitted that the 8 men were armed with nothing but sharpened spoons, while the police later claimed that the 8 men had firearms and had fired at the police. These mutually contradictory statements also add to conviction that the killing was a fake encounter, she added.
She said these 8 men cannot be declared ‘terrorists’ without being established in the court of law. If these 8 men were indeed 'terrorists' as is being alleged, then their crimes should have been proven in Court so that they could be duly punished.