Rights activists demand speedy justice for Ishrat Jahan

Rights activists on Saturday organised a public meeting and candle light vigil demanding justice for Ishrat Jahan and speedy prosecution of police, intelligence officers and politicians involved in the fake encounter.

The rights activists demanded that Intelligence Bureau officer Rajendra Kumar be prosecuted. “After Rajendra Kumar came out of Gujarat and DG Vanzara was arrested, fake encounters stopped in the state. Both of them were responsible for these encounters,” alleged Shabnam Hashmi, the rights activist.

The event was attended by Ishrat family members, including her mother, sister and uncle.

“They wanted to terrorise me, so that I should abandon demanding justice for Ishrat. At times, police treated me as a foreign national. However, I never gave up,” recalled Rauf Lala, uncle of Ishrat.

Anie Raja, General Secretary of National Federation for Women, held communal politics responsible for Ishrat’s death.

“Justice J S Verma wept when he visited a camp of victims of Gujarat riots. Politicians colluded with the police in killing people,” alleged JNU professor Kamal Chinoy.

The protest meeting was addressed by former bureaucrat Harsh Mander, women activists Kavita Krishnan and Brinda Grover.