Bhopal encounter deaths create outrage in India

Congress party’s Digvijaya Singh, in a series of tweets, lambasted the BJP-led state government, alleging that the terrorists were killed as the police feared they would make some revelations, reports Times of India. He also pitched for a court-monitored NIA probe into the incident and also a judicial inquiry into the functioning of the jail. About a police statement that the terrorists were likely armed and were killed in retaliatory police firing, Digvijaya wondered how the escapees could be in possession of weapons when they had just broken out of jail. Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Bhupendra Singh questioned the Congress party’s patriotism and said that no investigation would be conducted into the incident. The CPI(M) questioned “disturbing inconsistencies” in versions of the Madhya Pradesh government and state police, and demanded a time-bound judicial iinquiry into the alleged encounter. AAP Convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also demanded a probe in the matter. The eight members of banned group Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) were killed after they broke out of Bhopal Central Jail early Monday, having killed a head constable and scaling the walls of the “high-security” premises using prison bed sheets. They were cornered and gunned down 10km away from the prison in a joint operation of the city police, a counter terrorist group (CTG) and an ATS team led by IPS officer Sanjeev Shami.  Facts about Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI)01. Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) is a banned Islamist student organisation that was formed in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, on 25 April, 1977. 02. It originally emerged as a student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH). 03. Mohammad Ahmadullah Siddiqi was its founding president. 04. SIMI was first banned on 27 September 2001 immediately following the September 11 attacks in the United States. 05. It was briefly unbanned in August 2008, but banned again in the same year on national security grounds. 06.  In 2014, the Centre renewed the ban imposed on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) under the Unlawful Activites (Prevention) Act for another five years, saying that if the outfit's activities were not curbed, it would reorganize its absconding activists and threaten the integrity and security of the country. 07.  Prosecution charges against its members were under the provisions of [Terrorist And Disruptive Activities Prevention Act (TADA), the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967. 08.  While the organisation ceased to exist formally, it took the route adopted by other terrorist outfits and began operating under new names. 09.  Reports also suggest that in some states like Uttar Pradesh where it had a strong presence, SIMI acquired new names for every district. 10.  Some analysts believe that Indian Mujahideen (IM) is a militant branch of SIMI while others say that the two groups are distinct although linked.