NUH: After brutal lynching incidents, Mewat, the predominantly Muslim region of Haryana next to the national capital of New Delhi, is back in news for fake encounter.
According to media reports, a 26-year-old was killed in an alleged encounter with the Haryana police on Thursday, February 21.
The deceased was identified as Arshad, a resident of Bisru village in Mewat district.
According to official version of the police, they went apprehended Arshad and his associates but began firing and retaliatory firing, Arshad was allegedly was shot down by police and his companions Ekram (41), Mushtaq (30) and Mustaque (40) were injured.
Contrary to the police claim, the residents of Bisru village, who witnessed the killing alleged encounter is a staged by Haryana Police.
They said that no confrontation took place and the police killed Ashrad without any provocation.
Speaking to Muslim Mirror, Sharfu, an eyewitness, who was present at the time of encounter, said:
“This happened around 9 am yesterday (February 16). Arshad, Ekram, Mushtaq, Mustaque, Azad (36) and Tillu (36) were sitting in the sun after bathing. Suddenly, the police arrived in their cars. Upon spotting the police, everyone (Arshad and his associates) got up and start to run but are caught. Three policemen grab Arshad and pin him to the ground and a fourth policeman shoots him.”
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Another witness Asmina, who was also present at the scene, says, “The policemen had pinned Arshad face down on the ground. After the police shot him, they held him down for five-seven minutes more, till he stopped shaking.”
She adds, “I had told them (the police) to not kill him here… but the policeman asked me “is he your uncle?””
This had not been a one-off case of encounter. The past few years have seen a surge in cases of extrajudicial killings of Muslim youths by police in Nuh and Faridabad districts of Haryana particularly since the BJP government came to power in the state.
Many cases of custodial or encounter deaths have been recorded in the Mewat region who were alleged to have been killed by the police.