The Hindu : Karnataka News : Police and Army order probe into youth’s death

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Tuesday, Dec 30, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Police and Army order probe into youth’s death

Staff Reporter

He was shot dead when he trespassed into Flag Staff House

— Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.

Mohammed Mukkaram Pasha’s Musthaq Ahmed Khan at Ulsoor Police Station in Bangalore on Monday.

BANGALORE: A day after 19-year-old Mohammad Mukkaram Pasha was shot dead for trespassing into the Flag Staff House, the residence of the Commander of Karnataka and Kerala Sub-Area, both the city police as well as the Indian Army have ordered investigation into the incident.

Pasha, part of an illegal drag race, abandoned his motorcycle near the Trinity Circle to dodge the traffic police around 1 a.m. on Sunday and scaled the wall of Brig. P.S. Ravindranath’s residence. He was shot at by one of the sentries on duty.

Police Commissioner Shankar M. Bidari has entrusted Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) M.R. Pujar with the inquiry and has given him three months to submit the report. “The investigation has just begun and since Sunday, statements of four sentries of Flag Staff House and ASC Dronacharya Mess have been recorded,” said a police officer attached to the East Division.

The officer, quoting the statement of a sentry, told The Hindu: “The sentries had fired six rounds of bullets from their 5.45 mm service rifle. The killing range of that weapon is 400 yards, and one of the six bullets fired from the weapon hit Pasha while others hit the ground and the compound wall.”

Meanwhile, a military spokesperson said the army has ordered an internal inquiry headed by a colonel as to how the security breach took place and what the other sentries were doing. “There will be a review of the security also,” she said and added that the inquiry is expected to be completed in two days.

To file case

Pasha’s father Musthaq Ahmed Khan said: “I will file cases with the State Human Rights Commission and with the Ulsoor police against the sentry (who shot at Pasha),” he said. “I was in Shimoga when I heard the news around 3.30 a.m. and I rushed to the city,” he said.

Pasha’s family accused the military personnel of “recklessness”. “Six sentries were on the premises when the episode occurred. They did not apprehend the unarmed boy; instead they fired on him,” Arshad, a relative, told presspersons at the Ulsoor police station when they came to lodge a complaint.

Appeal

The South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring (SICHREM) has appealed to the Karnataka State Human Rights Commission to take up “an urgent and immediate investigation” into the shooting.

In its petition to KSHRC, Prakash Kariyappa, Fact Finding Coordinator of SICHREM, has asked why the traffic police did not take the vehicle registration numbers of the fleeing youth and issued notices later as is the usual practice.

The petition said that “the army personnel on guard were reckless in their use of gunfire”. Pasha was unarmed and, therefore, their conduct could in no way be considered self-defence, the petition said. “Furthermore, six shots were fired, one of which caused Mukkaram’s death,” it added.

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