Atif Amin, one of the two suspected militants killed in Batla House encounter on September 19 was an innocent youth who was more concerned with his future career in management than any interest in terrorist or fundamentalist activities, his family said.
Aauqib Jamai, a cousin of Atif and independent film maker, told a fact finding team of different civil rights organisations and activists in New Delhi on September 21 that the family had never come across Atif’s involvement in any suspicious activities or links with the Students Islamic Movement of India, as the police have been claiming now.
Atif Amin’s elder brother Raghib Amin is also a noted cameraman with UTV, an independent company in film production. Aauqib said that Atif Amin was staying in New Delhi for the last three years and after completing BSc IT from Manipal University, he had secured admission in Post Graduation course in Human Rights Development in Jamia Millia Islamia.
“Whenever I met him and asked him about his future plans, he would tell me to get him a job,” Auqib Jamai said. “Kab tak Amma Abba ke Sahare baithe rahenge, he would tell me.”
Atif had studied in the historic Shibli School established by Allama Shibli Naomani.
Aauqib said Atif had met him 10 or 12 days before the incident and had Iftar with him. “He was observing the Ramadhan fasts regularly,” he said. Auqib also wondered how the nickname of ‘Bashir’ came to be attached to his name because his family had never used that name.
About the other youth, Sajid, who was also killed in the Batla House encounter, Aauqib said that he had also come from Sanjarpur village of Azamgarh in UP. The 17-year-old student was seeking admission in Jamia Millia. Saif, who was arrested by Delhi police, had plans to become a pilot. “It was his childhood dream to become a pilot though he had done post graduation in history,” Aauqib said.
Another person from Azamgarh, Ms. Ambareen, who teaches in Jamia, expressed deep sense of insecurity and fear created by the latest turn of event especially among the students of Azamgarh who are studying in Delhi.
She revealed that Zeeshan’s father was trying to send him to Dubai in search of better economic prospects. Zeeshan is one of the two suspected militants caught by Delhi police after the encounter. The Batla House room where the encounter took place belonged to Zeeshan and on that fateful Friday, he had left the room early for an examination.
“When the TV channels started flashing his name during the reports on Delhi encounter, a panic stricken Zeeshan had sought the advice of his friends what he should do. While refusing the advice of fleeing from Delhi, he went to TV Today channels studio and recorded his version but the channel used only a few clips. When he came out of the studio, the police arrested him,” Aauquib said.
Ambareen expressed fear that after this incident the Muslim youth from Azamgarh studying in Delhi will become a soft target. “There has been a historic link between the students of Azamgarh and Delhi but now Azamgarh students will be seen with suspicion,” she said.
N D Pancholi of People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL), former professor of Delhi University N Bhattacharya of Jan Hastakshep and several other activists demanded a judicial inquiry into the Batla House encounter on the ground that there were many doubts and questions.