In light of the Central Bureau of Investigation charge sheet in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case this July, which indicts the Gujarat police and the State Intelligence, the fight for justice is nearly almost won, but the conspirators of the killing should be brought to book, Ishrat’s sister Musarrat said here on Friday.
“It has been proved today that my sister had nothing to do with terrorism. Most of the people involved in the case are now behind bars. The day is not far when even the conspirators will be punished. We are fighting on because we do not want another Ishrat,” Ms. Musarrat said at a national conference of the All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) here.
“After the CBI report the blot of terrorism Ishrat was carrying has been removed. Our battle is 90 per cent won. It will go on till the conspirators are punished,” she said.
“However,” she added, “even today people are confused about her going to Ahmedabad. We are seven siblings and our father passed away early. Someone had to earn to provide for the family. She would give tuitions, but when schools had vacation, she was offered the opportunity to sell products by Javed Sheikh [also killed in the encounter], who was my father’s friend. She went to Ahmedabad to earn a living. Can’t a girl go out to work without being seen in the wrong light? When we learnt from the media that she was killed in an encounter, we did not know what ‘encounter’ meant or who Narendra Modi was. A girl who was afraid of cockroaches and lizards would go to kill a person [Mr. Modi]?”
The conference felicitated women victims of violence and sexual assault who put up a brave fight against atrocities and injustice.
A survivor of the horrific Vachathi killings in Tamil Nadu, where 18 women of a tribal hamlet were raped, questioned the linking of a woman’s attire with the atrocities committed on her.
“When there are rapes, the society always blames women and their dress. When they do that, do not believe them. That only justifies the act,” she said.
