News broke on 31st October 2016 that eight inmates of Bhopal Central Prison had escaped in the middle of the previous night. All these inmates were alleged to be members of the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India. The inmates were all under-trials and were held in the terror cell of the B wing of the high security jail. By afternoon of the same day Madhya Pradesh police reported that all eight had been killed in an encounter in a village on the outskirts of Bhopal.
As details and conflicting reports of the alleged jail break and encounter began to emerge, many questions were raised by concerned citizens regarding the genuineness of the entire incident, especially in the light of glaring loopholes in the official version of events. This fact-finding was conducted 4th to 6th November 2016.
Fact Finding team:
Ansar Indori -National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation ashok Research Scholar – Delhi University
Hisham -Solidarity Youth Movement, Kerala
M H Banna – Senior Journalist, Madhyamam Daily
Salman – Crimninal-justice fellow, TISS (Rehabilitation of wrongly prosecuted/Innocents)
Surya Ghildyal – Research Associate, Quill Foundation
Swati Gupta – Bastar Solidarity Network
Timisha Dadhich – Research Associate, Quill Foundation / MA Criminology and Justice, TISS (Student 2nd year)
Vipul Kumar – Researcher, Quill Foundation
Down load the full report here
This report must be analysed by the government and the guilty must be severely punished. The civil rights activists must seek court intervention in implementing the recommendations by the government.