Nirbhaya's parents welcome Hyderabad encounter; Tharoor cautions against extra-judicial killings
New Delhi: The father of Nirbhaya, the 23-year-old paramedic student who died days after being gangraped in Delhi in December 2012, welcomed the news of the death of the accused in the Hyderabad gangrape-and-murder case in a police encounter on Friday and said the family's wait for justice ended early.
Had the police not acted promptly and shot the accused, they would have fled and might not have been caught again, he said.
"It is good that the police showed prompt response and acted. Otherwise the accused would have fled and it would have been difficult to catch them. The escape would also have raised questions on the efficiency of the police," he told PTI over phone.
The father of the paramedic student, who was brutally gangraped inside a moving bus in the national capital on December 16, 2012, said they had been waiting for justice for seven years now.
"The family of the Hyderabad doctor will not have to wait for seven years for justice like us. We can understand the pain of her parents. At least, they got justice early," he said.
The mother of Nirbhaya appealed to the authorities not to punish the policemen involved in the encounter. Meanwhile, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor sounded a word of caution, saying extra-judicial killings were not acceptable.
"Agree in principle. We need to know more, for instance if the criminals were armed, the police may have been justified in opening fire preemptively. Until details emerge we should not rush to condemn. But extra-judicial killings are otherwise unacceptable in a society of laws," the former Union minister said in a tweet.
National Commission for Women (NCW) chief Rekha Sharma said she was happy that the accused in the Hyderabad gangrape-and-murder case were dead, but added that justice should have been done through proper legal channels.
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Successfully overcame major resistance to Karnataka Muslim Convention, says Suhail Ahmed Maroor
Bengaluru: Karnataka Rajya Muslim Sanghatanegala Okkoota spokesperson Suhail Ahmed Maroor on Saturday said the organisers had successfully overcome what he described as significant resistance to the ‘Karnataka Muslim Convention’, despite a misinformation campaign in the last 24 hours claiming that the event had been cancelled.
Speaking at the convention organised by the Karnataka Rajya Muslim Sanghatanegala Okkoota at Town Hall in Bengaluru, Maroor began his introductory remarks by reading out the Preamble to the Constitution.
He said the federation had spent the past eight months consulting members of the Muslim community and gathering opinions, with the objective of working for the community’s interests and safeguarding its constitutional rights.
Maroor said the Muslim community has the capacity to gather lakhs of people for religious programmes, but when an attempt was made to mobilise even 1,000 people for a convention focused on political, educational and social issues, questions were raised about who was backing the event, who had funded it, and whether it was for or against any particular political party.
He said the organisers faced considerable pressure, resistance and challenges, and added that many others might have cancelled the programme under such circumstances.
“We are fighting for our rights. We are living in a time when our identity is under threat,” he said.
Referring to the hijab issue, Maroor said the federation had been demanding for the past three years that the government withdraw the order banning hijab. He noted that within three hours of the federation holding a press conference to announce the convention, the government withdrew the order.
He welcomed the government’s decision and expressed gratitude on behalf of the federation.
Maroor said the convention should not be viewed with suspicion simply because the Muslim community had chosen to organise a gathering to discuss its political, educational and social concerns.
He clarified that the programme was not intended as an event against the Congress party or the government, but was aimed at examining what promises the Congress had made to the Muslim community during elections, which of those promises had been fulfilled and which remained pending.
He said the report prepared by the federation analyses both the assurances made by the Congress government and the gaps in implementation.
Maroor added that, for the first time, workers who contribute significantly to the country’s economy were collectively seeking accountability for how their taxes and labour were being recognised.
“This is not being done on behalf of any individual or political party. We are undertaking a small effort on behalf of the community,” he said.
He said that after the convention, the organisers would make efforts to submit the report to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar, state ministers, the Congress high command and Rahul Gandhi.
Haris Siddiqui of the Karnataka Rajya Muslim Sanghatanegala Okkoota delivered the welcome address.
