By Pervez Bari
Bhopal: An element of revenge was there in the fake encounter conducted by Madhya Pradesh Police when three Muslim youth, who had allegedly shot dead their three police officials while poaching in the state’s Guna district, were gunned down.
This has been alleged in the fact-finding finding report released by the rights group National Confederation of Human Rights Organizations (NCHRO). The report said that these encounters were carried out to “take revenge and protect the real culprits of the poaching.”
However, police have dismissed their findings and said that “what we (police) have said is the truth.” This was revealed by fact-finding member Vasid Khan when he approached the police officials.
It may be mentioned here that three Muslim men Naushad, Shahzad and Chotu Pathan alias Zaheer Khan were killed by the police in encounters on May 13, 14 and 17, 2022 in the Guna district of Madhya Pradesh over allegations of poaching blackbucks and peacocks.
According to police, a team of police officials reached the spot after being informed in the wee hours of May 14 that some people were poaching blackbucks and peacocks in the Sagar Bakhera jungle.
“The poachers allegedly opened fire on the team of police in which three police officials were killed. The police also shot at the poachers in which Naushad was killed,” the police said to the media. While Shahzad escaped at that time and was killed in the encounter on the evening of May 14, according to police.
Deceased policemen also responsible
“In this incident, the deceased policemen are also responsible for the crime as are the poachers. The accused has a relationship with the politicians of Madhya Pradesh. Their photos with the politicians have been published in the newspapers. The police are killing people belonging to the minority to protect the high profile criminals,” the report noted.
The team pointed out that if the call details of slain Shahzad were obtained, it would expose many things related to the incident. “But the police are not willing to do this. The government and administration are active to protect the high profile mafia and smugglers while innocent people belonging to minority communities are being killed,” the report said.
According to police, a team of police officials reached the spot after being informed in the wee hours of May 14 that some people were poaching blackbucks and peacocks in the Sagar Bakhera jungle.
“The poachers allegedly opened fire on the team of police in which three police officials were killed. The police also shot at the poachers in which Naushad was killed,” the police said to the media. While Shahzad escaped at that time and was killed in the encounter on the evening of May 14, as per police.
The fact-finding team included state president of the NCHRO advocate Aradhana Bhargava, NCHRO’s state general secretary Vasid Khan, senior social activist Rakesh Mishra and NCHRO member, Shrikant Vaishnav. The team visited Viduria village of Guna district on May 20 where the alleged poachers lived. They spoke to family members of the slain accused.
According to Vasid Khan, a member of the fact-finding team, after killing Naushad, the police killed his brother Shahzad when he came to perform the funeral rites of Naushad at the graveyard. “The police could have nabbed him with ease as Shahzad was alone at that time. But they didn’t arrest him but rather killed him after laying siege,” he said.
According to Khan, the two brothers Naushad and Shahzad were regularly in contact with the local BJP leaders and had friendly relations with the local police.
In the case of Chhotu Pathan, the police are saying that he was fleeing while his family members said that he was taken by the police from his home, per the report.
Meanwhile, according to a report in Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar, Naushad and Shahzad had done poaching two days before the encounter. ASI Rajkumar Jatav was given a tip-off about poaching. Jatav had warned them not to poach again. But they had told Jatav to allow them to poach five blackbucks on the occasion of their niece’s marriage and offered bribes to him. Jatav had rejected the bribes.
Talking about the incident, 55-year-old Haseen Bano, mother of Naushad and Shahzad, told the fact-finding team that on May 14, his son Siraj’s daughter was set to get married. “A day before, they were celebrating rituals of Mehendi at night when Gagan sarpanch and Kalla sarpanch came to our home with arms to take Naushad and Shahzad to the jungle for poaching. Later at night, both Sarpanches brought Naushad unconscious and laid his body on the ground. Then, the police came and took away his body,” she said.
She alleged that the police also beat up her 77-year-old husband Nisar and his son Siraj. “They were beaten up even in the jail. The police also plucked all the nails of Nisar and demolished houses belonging to her three sons and other villagers.”
“The police could have taken my sons Naushad and Shahzad into custody and given them a punishment of 10 years in jail. They should have allowed my sons to live,” she said.
| Posted by Sameer Khan | 
