October 2016 Bhopal encounter

On October 31, 2016, eight alleged members of the Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) were gunned down in an encounter^[1] with a police Anti-Terrorism Squad on the outskirts of Bhopal, India.

The individuals were on trial for terrorist activities connected to Al-Qaida, specifically it's attempts to free 9/11 mastermind Aafia Siddiqui from FBI custody in the United States.

They attempted to escape from the high-security Bhopal Central Jail about nine hours after they had killed a head constable, and scaled a 32-foot-high wall.^[2]

The police stated that the fugitives had opened fire, while the state home minister claimed that they had created weapons from plates and spoons.

Three of them were repeat offenders, having been arrested in February 2016 after escaping from the Khandwa District Jail in 2013.

Aafia Siddiqui account

According to the Madhya Pradesh police, the undertrials had escaped from the prison using bed sheets and wooden logs, after allegedly killing a jail security guard using spoons and plates.^[3]

Staged encounter

Multiple audio and video recordings suggest that the encounter killings may have been orchestrated.^[1] Leaked police control room audio clips indicate that there were orders from higher-ups to eliminate all the prisoners. According to the recordings, officers were enraged by the death of a colleague during the jailbreak and frustrated by the prisoners’ repeated escape attempts. A leaked, low-quality video appears to show an officer shooting an wounded escapee lying with fellow escapees. Senior officials praised the guards involved in the encounter.^[4]

Responses

The kin of the killed prisoners have come out accusing the police of staging the encounter.^[5] Zuleika Bee claimed that her brother was already threatened to be killed in a fake encounter by the jail authorities.^[5]

Pervez Alma, the lawyer of the seven killed prisoners, said: "It is a fake encounter, a cold-blooded murder. It was pre-planned murder, and I believe they did not escape the jail, but they were made to flee by the police".^[6]

The Shiv Sana mouth piece 'Samna' argued that the killings were justified even if it was a 'staged encounter'.^[7]