Support
Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association has been running a campaign on the issue of Batla House ‘encounter’ and the subsequent arrests of youth whom the Delhi Police alleged to be
terrorists. JTSA has exposed the various discrepancies and loopholes in the police version, compiled in its report, ‘Encounter’ at Batla House: Unanswered Questions. The report can be accessed from the Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association’s (JTSA’s) website. Please check the URL: http://www.teacherssolidarity.org/ A Hindi edition of the report is also now available.
While we have been leading a public demand for judicial probe into the ‘encounter’—the need for an independent and fair probe is only reinforced by the recent revelations that Ishrat Jehan and Sohrabuddin in Gujarat were killed in cold blood by the Gujarat Police— the UPA government at the Centre and the Congress government in Delhi have persistently stonewalled all such demands. One year on, the trials—of the five arrested youth, two of them students of Jamia Millia Islamia—are only just beginning. After the various state police
departments cut a sorry figure when they came up with their own list of terror ‘masterminds’, the move has been to implicate these arrested youth in bomb blasts across the country. Moreover, separate FIRs and charge-sheets have been filed for every single bomb blast, even in the same city. This means that there will nearly 20 trials in Ahmedabad,
five in Delhi and so on. In practical terms, it means that the trials will last for years. Worse still, the charge-sheets in Gujarat have been provided in Gujarati—thus placing the burden of translation on the families of the accused and escalating the legal expenses.
JTSA is committed to ensuring the best legal recourse to the accused, as indeed should all citizens who believe in justice, truth and democracy. We appeal to you to support JTSA’s public campaigns and assist in the legal battle by contributing to our STRUGGLE FUND.
Contributions can be made through cheque/Demand Draft drawn in favour of Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association. Please send us your full address to enable us to send you
a receipt. We would be grateful if you could email us at [email protected] when you send
us your contribution.
In Solidarity
Manisha Sethi, Adeel Mehdi, Ghazi Shahnawaz, Ahmed Sohaib, Sanghamitra Misra, Azra Razzak, Farah Farooqi, Amabarien Al Qadar, Tanweer Fazal and others.