After the encounter of eight SIMI members in Bhopal came under scanner, an independent fact finding team visited the encounter site, the family of murdered security guard Ram Shankar Yadav and kin of the encountered SIMI members to examine the facts given to media by the state and police pertaining to the alleged fake encounter. The report of the team consists of the fact finding of three incidents regarding the encounter – alleged murder of Ram Shankar Yadav, alleged jail break by eight under-trials and encounter killings of eight under-trials. It points out many contradictions, inconsistencies, irregularities in the state narrative of the encounter and raised many serious questions over it. The team alleged non co-operation and hostility of the Madhya Pradesh Administration as it was denied permission to visit the jail. The team sent by Quill Foundation, an NGO, released its report at Press Club of India in the Capital on 29 November.
Regarding the murder of Yadav, Vipul Kumar, one of the members of the fact-finding team, who is researcher at Quill Foundation, said, “Yadav had very troublesome relationship with prison officers. He was in a lot of fights with prison officers regarding him being posted in night shift. His family is not happy with the whole story that is coming out in the media. They said that they don’t believe the story and there is major lapse in the story, probably truth is not being said. There was enormous fear and a lot of hostility in the family. Ram Shankar’s wife said that she is being given threats.”
Questioning the silence of Chandan Ahirwal, the prisoners guard, who, the police claimed, was spared by the under-trials, Kumar said, “What cannot be understood is why there is not a single statement about what exactly happened in the prison. The only person who actually can speak the truth about the murder of Ram Shankar Yadav is Chandan Ahirwal. Now this person has been kept from the media. He is extremely scared and the family is also extremely scared. Everyone in the area is very scared. Why are they so scared? Who is threatening them? Fact-finding team also felt the environment of fear. Fact-finding team realised that a lot of facts are being tried to hide. We did not get any kind of cooperation from the state authorities. That raises serious questions.”
Raising the contradiction in the accounts of police and eyewitness, Kumar said, “There are lots of contradictions which emerge into the account of eyewitnesses – Suraj Singh Meena (supposed to be prime witness of the encounter and his cousin – and police. One of the important contradictions is related to the timing. At what time the encounter took place? There is also self-contradiction in both Mohan Meena’s and Suraj Singh Meena’s accounts. They said that they saw first them (the under-trials) and they were the ones who called up the police. They saw them between 8:30 and 9 and the encounter took place just after that around 9:30. In the first interview with Mohan Meena on the television, he said that it’s around 9:30 and in the later version of interview suddenly the time is maintained as 11:30. Now there is serious shift. Similarly, we interviewed his brother who said the encounter took place during 8:30 and 9:00. When we pointedly asked what he thought what time the encounter took place, he said the encounter took place at 11:30. Now what is very interesting is that the police has been saying the encounter took place around 10:30.”
He continued, “What is even more interesting is that one of the persons who is again a witness, there is a Dhabawala who doesn’t want to reveal his name as he also feels threatened. He told us that the police first came at 7 o’clock and again came around 9:00-9:30. Second time they also took him to show them the direction. He reached around 10:00; he said by then the encounter had already taken place.”
The fact-finding report raises many questions pertaining to the jailbreak. “How did the prisoners make keys without access to lock or duplicate keys? What happened to the jaagiyas who are supposed to be inside the wards? How did they manage to procure 35 bedsheets as is being alleged by the administration? How is it possible that all the cameras of the prison were disabled that night? How did anybody not hear or see anything at all in such a well-lit and quiet prison?” the report questioned.
The fact-finding team visited the families of the encountered under-trials and found that their families are living under extremely pathetic and vulnerable conditions. One of the encountered under-trials Aqueel Khilji’s family is surviving on daily wage earned by the sons by doing labour work in their area. Another encountered under-trial Mohammad Salik’s family is facing social boycott and not getting any job. The encountered Shaikh Mehboob’s grandfather Shaikh Kallan (86) was tortured and his house was ransacked by the police on the day of the encounter. His mother who is presently in custody in the case of banned organisation SIMI was not allowed to attend his funeral. The deceased Zakir Hussain’s family is earning their livelihood by supplying sand as labourers in their village. His mother was beaten up and his family was harassed by the police.
The fact-finding team members were Ansar Indori (National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation), Vipul Kumar (Researcher, Quill Foundation), Ashok (Research Scholar, Delhi University), Swati Gupta (Bastar Solidarity Network), Hisham (Solidarity Youth Movement, Kerala), M H Banna (senior journalist, Madhyamam Daily), Timisha Dadhich (Research Associate, Quill Foundation), Surya Ghildyal (Research Associate, Quill Foundation) and Salman (Criminal-justice fellow).