Police investigate the encounter site at the hillocks of Acharpura village after the STF killed 8 Students of Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activists who escaped Central Jail killing a security guard in Bhopal on Monday. (File/PTI Photo)
“The use of force resulting in the death of the escaped persons was quite inevitable and quite reasonable under the prevailing circumstances,’’ the judicial probe into the October 31, 2016 encounter of eight SIMI activists, has concluded.
Eight SIMI members, who had escaped from Bhopal Central Jail in the intervening night between October 30 and October 31, 2016, were shot dead by the police on a hillock near Bhopal. Retired high court judge Justice S K Pande had submitted his report to the BJP government in September 2017. The report was tabled in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly on Monday.
“The deceased persons were asked to surrender but instead of complying, they started firing at the police and public. So, it became necessary for the police to open fire on persons who had escaped from lawful custody. Even after the police opened fire they showed no intention to surrender and as a result, sustained injuries and died on the spot,’’ the judge said quoting depositions on the affidavit.
The one-man commission also inquired into circumstances in which the SIMI members escaped from the central jail. The eight SIMI members were facing trials in several cases, including offences that are punishable with death or life imprisonment.
The SIMI activists thrust a piece of cloth in the mouth of Chandan Kumar Tilanthe, a guard who tried to obstruct them, and tied him. When another guard Ramashankar Yadav tried to intervene they slit his throat using sharp edged weapons.
On June 6, 2017, the commission visited Bhopal Central Jail and Manikhedi Kot Pathar, the village on Bhopal’s outskirts where the encounter took place and compared the evidence. The commission said the undertrials opened the cell lock using a key and scaled the outer jail wall using a ladder made of bedsheets and wooden pieces.
The judicial commission held that the low height of the jail walls allowed the undertrials to stage the escape easily and recommended that the wall height be increased.
In its action taken report, the state government said the height of the 6-meter outer wall will be increased by adding 1.5 meter electrified fencing on top of it. The government said it agreed with the commission’s finding that the use of force was necessary and reasonable in prevailing circumstances. It said the government has given in principle approval to bring jail department under the home department.