NEW DELHI: Celebrated author Arundhati Roy has demanded a judicial inquiry into the Jamia Nagar shootout, saying she was among a vast section of people who were not buying the police theory on the incident.
Roy also accused the middle class of shunning its liberal values in not questioning the police, which was making the situation "very dangerous". "I am just one of the thousands of people who are asking some very serious questions from the police... thousands of people are saying a lot of things," she told a TV interview which, coming on the back of a campaign for a judicial probe, is likely to keep the Batla House pot boiling.
It follows political rallies taken out by parties like SP and a demand raised even by the ruling Congress that police come clean on the issue which has generated a lot of heat among the Muslim community.
With terrorism set to be a debating point in the political contests between BJP and Congress next month, Batla House is turning out to be a rallying point among "secular outfits". A fresh statement from Roy may not let the issue subside which has divided the populace along those doubting the encounter and those trusting the police operation.
The division on the issue is deeper as there are indications from police that investigators have collected enough evidence to prove that the slain youths belonged to a terrorist gang. Even Roy took care to say she "was not calling it fake" but wanted an inquiry.
The view among the doubters is strongly contested by the police which feels that the death of an experienced inspector and injury to another cop should have been enough proof of the genuineness of the operation. They say evidence like photographs from mobile phones and arms recovered from the house were strong proof.
Roy's slamming of middle-class for being quiet and not questioning the police version, which she said was turning the situation "dangerous", has its share of supporters and critics. Those doubting the cops' version feel people have let themselves be misled by the state. But the strong possibility about Batla House shootout being genuine has put even the Congress, which leads the "secular" camp, on its guard.
The spread of terror and its frequency in recent months has led to a visible disquiet among the middle-classes and the urban population which, Congress feels, could work to its disadvantage if it was seen to be playing along with human rights activists at the cost of facts. Observers say Congress's refusal to go strong on doubting the police, even when a section of the party tries to damage control politically with sympathies with demand for inquiry, is to be seen in this light.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/I...ow/3616629.cms
Transcript of the interview:
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/devils-a...n/76234-3.html