New Delhi: Slamming Congress for raising questions over the police encounter in Madhya Pradesh in which 8 SIMI undertrails were killed, the BJP today said by Congress has been indulging in vote bank politics by questioning every encounter with terrorists. Addressing a news conference here, BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma said some leaders of ''Italy Congress'' mourn the death of terrorists who are killed in an encounter. '' Why Congress has sympathy for SIMI and Lashkar-e-Taiba and why it was doing politics on terror,'' the BJP leader questioned. Mr Sharma said Congress had raised questions over the Batla House encounter, Mumbai terror attack, Parliament attack and on the issue of Afzal Guru.
''Raising questions on such type of encounter reduces moral of the security personnel,'' the BJP leader said. He said NIA has gone to investigate Bhopal encounter, but BJP believes that incidents involving encounters with terrorists should not be probed. ''We salute the efforts of Madhya Pradesh police for neutralising terrorists of jailbreak,'' Mr Sharma said.
''Earlier, Congress used to do divisive politics on the basis of religion and caste and now it is indulging in the politics of hate,'' the BJP leader added. Eight activists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) – who escaped from Bhopal's Central Jail were yesterday neutralised in an encounter with police. (UNI)
Cong and other Opposition parties question Bhopal encounter, demand judicial probe
The Opposition today questioned the encounter in which eight suspected SIMI under trial activists were gunned down after they fled away from the high security Bhopal jail, demanding a probe to establish the veracity of police claims. Three videos of the encounter which soon surfaced showing policemen firing at a bodies already lying on the ground went viral on social media, giving further fuel to the Opposition to attack the government.
However, the authenticity of the videos could not be established. Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh tweeted,’’ Did they flee from the jail or made to flee, according to some well planned strategy. This should be subject to inquiry.’’ He said that in spite of killing the SIMI activists, they should have been arrested. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal demanded a Supreme Court monitored probe into the encounter. "This is very serious. We demand an SC monitored investigation," the Chief Minister said in response to a scribe tweet which questioned the state version of the encounter. In Hyderabad, All India Anjuman Ittehade-Muslimeen leader Asaduddin Owaisi also demanded a judicial probe.
The ruling BJP hit back saying the Opposition was worried about the safety of hard core criminals and terrorists and not about the safety of the security forces who protect the citizens. BJP Spokesperson GVL Narasimha said the Opposition was doing only vote bank politics by questioning the encounter without going into fact. Their sympathies always lie with terrorists than with security forces. (UNI)
