AIMIM supremo Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday launched a fresh attack against Uttar Pradesh’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party after former MP Atiq Ahmad’s son Asad Ahmad and his aide Ghulam who were accused in a murder case were killed by UP Police in an alleged encounter.
Speaking in Telangana’s Nizamabad, Owaisi asked if ‘the BJP (will) also shoot those who killed Junaid and Nasir’ – a reference to two Muslim men killed by Hindutva men in February.
“Will the BJP also shoot those who killed Junaid and Nasir? Will the BJP also do encounter killing of those who killed Junaid and Nasir? No, because you (BJP) do encounters in the name of religion,” said Owaisi.
Owaisi went on to say: “You want to weaken the rule of law… do ‘encounter’ of the Constitution. Why do we have courts… the law… why is there CrPC, IPC… why are there judges? You have just decided to do ‘encounter killings’. What will judges do then? This is their job!”
“Your job is to catch the killers… if someone kills, send them to jail,” he added.
The extrajudicial killing has been praised by UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath while former UP chief ministers Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati criticised the Hindu nationalist government’s action and called for an independent inquiry.
“Asad and Ghulam were wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case of Prayagraj and were carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh each. They were killed in an encounter with the UP Special Task Force team,” said Special Additional Director General (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar, PTI reported.
“The UP STF team was led by Deputy SP Navendu and Vimal. Sophisticated foreign-made weapons were recovered from the accused. Further details are awaited,” he said.
