Thirteen years is a long time to decontaminate indoctrinated minds, shed bigoted sentiments and reform radical thoughts. But none of them seemed to apply to Ariz Khan, sentenced to death for the 2008 Batla House encounter in Delhi that left two home-grown terrorists and a Delhi police officer dead. The convicted terrorist was held to have shown no signs of remorse for killing the police inspector and not even a hint of reforming. This forced the judge’s hands to award the strictest punishment in the interest of upholding justice. The judgment will come as a shot in the arm for the Delhi Police, which had faced a barrage of questions from many quarters about the encounter’s genuineness. It was alleged that the shooting was staged and that the Indian Mujahideen members were first killed in cold blood and weapons planted on them later. But the court has trashed those allegations saying some of the policemen who raided the terrorist hideout were not even armed.
The reasons behind the doubts raised over the encounter lie in the trying times the country was passing through in the first decade of the century. The Gujarat riots had taken place and that is said to have radicalised many Muslims. This was followed by many police encounters that raised many eyebrows, such as the Ishrat Jahan, Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsi Prajapati shootings. Those were also the days when deadly explosions were carried out in various cities, allegedly by the IM. The Ariz Khan judgment should bury any ghosts and doubts about the Batla House shooting.
More than settling the debate over the encounter, it is the near extinction of the IM that needs to be celebrated. The government and security agencies will take the credit for this but it is actually the Muslim community that needs to be lauded. Whether by design or by accident, it has ensured that the likes of Ariz Khan are mere fringe elements and that the community as a whole does not subscribe to the views of such radicals nor condones their actions. Let’s hope Ariz Khan and the likes are only footnotes in India’s fight against fundamentalist elements.