Tags:
Journalism of Courage
There is no getting away from the fact that the Gujarat police suffers from a severe credibility crisis, largely because of its strikingly inept and partisan handling of the Gujarat riots of 2002. It is therefore inevitable that its version of the circumstances under which four persons 8212; including Mumbai college girl Ishrat Jahan 8212; were mowed down last week in a police encounter would be met with scepticism.
Of course, the story put out by the state police 8212; that the four who were shot dead were actually Lashkar-e-Toiba operatives who were working to a plan of assassinating Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi 8212; may well conform to the truth. However, given the doubtful reputation that continues to dog Modi8217;s men in khaki, it would make eminent sense to hand over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation. Not only will that help shore up the credibility of the investigation process, it will make for a more efficient handling of the various aspects of the case. At the moment, it is each police team for itself. The Mumbai police are busy piecing together Ishrat Jahan8217;s background, while the Pune police claim they have dug out valuable information on Javed Shaikh, even as the Gujarat police have produced diaries that ostensibly link the two with the Lashkar-e-Toiba. These separate attempts to make sense of the encounter do not make for seamless, controversy-free scrutiny. The fractured background, and the numerous, complex questions the case raises, make the intervention of a central authority like the CBI a necessity.
