The Hindu : National : Emotions run high at Ishrat funeral

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 20, 2004

National

National

Emotions run high at Ishrat funeral

By Our Special Correspondent

MUMBRA (MAHARASHTRA), JUNE 19. Life came to a standstill in Mumbra town, in Thane district of Maharashtra, today when the body of 19-year-old Ishrat Jahan Shamim Raza, who was shot dead by the Ahmedabad police, was laid to rest. Thousands of people took part in her funeral procession. Shops downed their shutters and traffic came to a halt.

Ishrat was shot dead early Tuesday along with three youths as the Gujarat police claimed that they had terrorist links and were planning to kill the State Chief Minister, Narendra Modi.

A sea of humanity offered namaz on the six-km stretch of the main Mumbra- Kausa road before Ishrat's body was buried in the local cemetery this afternoon. People gathered on their balconies and windows, on terraces and on the road in a show of defiance and in solidarity with the victim and her family.

Ishrat's mother, Shamima, and six others who had gone to Ahmedabad, brought the body here this morning. There was a virtual stampede on the road leading to Rashid compound where Ishrat had lived, with hundreds of residents flocking her house to pay their last respects. Ishrat's neighbour, Abid, said: "We have known the family for many years. She kept to her herself and was very studious. I never thought I would attend her funeral in this fashion." Hasan Sahil, a hotel owner, said: "The whole town of Mumbra is said to be a terrorist hotbed — do we look like terrorists? Even if she was guilty, why did they have to kill her?"

Shamima has told a private TV channel that her statement recorded in Ahmedabad by the Gujarat police was under duress. Munna Mohideen Sahil, a local Nationalist Congress Party worker, who accompanied her to Ahmedabad, told The Hindu : "The police treated us so badly and they even asked me to remove my white cap in the police station. We were not allowed to accompany Ishrat's mother while she was being questioned, and we were kept in the police station without food and water. They did not even let us offer namaz, though it was Friday."

"Ishrat's mother was grilled for over two hours by police. Finally, when we went to collect her body from the civil hospital, they refused to give us the post-mortem report. It was only after the NCP MLC, Jitendra Avhad, from Maharashtra called the police and intervened, that they said they would give it to us 15 days later," he added.

However, plans to conduct another post-mortem in Mumbai were cancelled, according to Shakib Khan, a lawyer and member of the Samajwadi Party, who also accompanied Shamima to Gujarat. "She was definitely pressured to give her statement to the police and forced to corroborate the police theory that her daughter was a terrorist. Even I, as her lawyer, was not allowed during questioning," Mr. Khan said.

Hussain Dalwai of the Congress, who attended the funeral, demanded a CBI inquiry into the whole incident and said such encounters were staged to defame the community.

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