NGO moves HC for judicial probe into Batla House encounter

New Delhi, Oct 21 (UNI) Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD), an NGO, has moved the Delhi High Court to order a judicial inquiry into the Jamia Nagar police encounter on September 19,in which two alleged terrorists involved in the Delhi serial bomb blasts were gunned down.

The Special Branch of the Delhi Police had also lost one of its brightest officers Mohan Chand Sharma in the operation.

Hearing Prashant Bhushan plead for an early hearing, a division bench headed by Justice Mukul Mudgal, however, refused to give an early hearing of the matter and posted it for November 7.

The NGO cast doubts over claims of the police version, which said that those killed were terrorists involved in the September 13 blasts in the Capital. The petitioner contended that there were many discrepancies in its stand which need to be clarified.

''Some of the questions raised strike at the very root of the official version regarding the said operation. In light of the air of suspicion surrounding the police version which itself seems ridden with discrepancies, an independent judicial probe into it is necessary to maintain people's faith in police,'' the petition says.

''A number of questions have been raised against the veracity of the said encounter by responsible and independent sections of the society and the media. This has raised serious doubts regarding the genuineness of it leading to a situation that warrants an independent judicial probe,'' the NGO added in its petition.

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