Batla House Fake Encounters Report

Excerpts from the Human Rights Commission report submitted to the Government on the Batla House fake encounters that has been made public, make one feel that the report and the comments made by the Commission lack the caution necessary in such cases.
In its report, the Commission has given a clean chit to the Delhi police saying that the police fired in retaliation. The Commission could be right in its stand but it is important to know on the basis of what evidence the Commission jumped to the conclusion that the police fired in retaliation.

Reasonable and Detailed Evidence
The Commission maintains that it has reasonable and detailed evidence from which it has drawn the conclusion that the police team faced the threat to life. It is possible that the Commission could be right in its claim of having evidence but to reach any conclusion, circumstantial evidence must not be ignored. Did the Commission record evidence of the people living near the place of incident?
It is necessary to know that there is wrath and annoyance among the people living around that place, who claim that the Commission has come out with its verdict in favor of the Delhi Police without even caring to record the evidence of these people. If the allegation is true, it raises a question mark on the impartiality of the Commission report, which injures the tenets of justice.
The Commission presenting its report to the concerned bench of the Delhi court has recommended that there is no need to take any action against the police. The Commission's three-page report, however, said about Atif and Sajid that whether the two had been involved in the Delhi bomb blasts could not be investigated because it is a criminal case.

Referring Indian Penal Code
The Commission has referred to section 100 of the Indian Penal Code under which if a person feels threat to his life, he can counteract for his own safety. The Indian Penal Code grants the right to every citizen to self-defense but this issue can only be settled by a court of law. The Commission ignored the eyewitnesses in this case.
It is not clear whether it recorded the statements of the relatives of those killed and those arrested by the police, because the right to self-defense is not enjoyed by the police alone, it has all citizens in its ambit. If those arrested maintain that they fired in self-defense because the police first fired on them, who would settle this controversy? Naturally, the court. The Commission, perhaps, did not record the statements of the parties concerned.
On the escape of culprits from (House No) L-18, the Commission maintains that possibly they may have got an opportunity to escape during the ensuing stampede. It is strange that a very important and significant Commission like the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has used the word possibly in its report on a very significant point.

Drawn Conclusion
The Commission has also drawn the conclusion that the action by the police was very much within the law and that no human rights violation has taken place. Let us once again discuss the self-defense issue at this point as well. The said section gives a right to self-defense to every citizen but the underlying beauty of it is that only that much force can be make that is sufficient for self-defense.
However, in the Batla House case, the bullet ridden dead bodies of the youth prove that the police used more force than actually needed. Did the Commission compare the post mortem reports of those killed in the encounter with the post mortem reports of Inspector Sharma, to know how many bullets each side fired and what was their angle? Perhaps the Commission ignored this point too. Under such circumstances, if there is annoyance among the people of Batla House and Muslim members of Parliament, is it wrong?
It appears that in making comments against the suspects and in favor of the Delhi police, the Commission made no attempt to reach to the bottom of the truth, and purposely or otherwise avoided it, and accepted, certain hypothesis and the police report as true.
Had it not done so, those living around L-18, Batla House would have no complain that their evidence has not been recorded. Let the Commission come out with any explanation of its attitude, but its action has injured the confidence the people have in it. And such a situation is inappropriate for any constitutional body.