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Blast from the past: When Salman Khurshid said Sonia Gandhi 'wept bitterly' over Batla House encounter
The Batla House encounter is ensconced firmly in the national consciousness and it also became part of a political slugfest because of comments made by Congress leader Salman Khurshid in 2012.
DNA Web Team | Jul 06, 2019, 06:01 PM IST
1.What Khurshid said
The encounter on September 19, 2008, at Batla House led to the death of Delhi Police Inspector Mohan Chandra Sharma and two Indian Mujahideen terrorists. There were allegations of it being a fake encounter.
In 2012, during assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Salman Khurshid told a crowd that that Sonia Gandhi ‘wept bitterly’ after seeing the encounter images He had said: “
"I was not a minister at that time but still took the issue of the Batla House encounter to Sonia Gandhi. When we showed photographs of that incident to Mrs Gandhi, she wept bitterly. "She asked me to go immediately to the Prime Minister to discuss the matter. I talked to the PM and it was decided that the matter would be further investigated and even the decision to appoint some retired chief justice of the Supreme Court to look into the matter was taken. Everything was ready, however due to election time, we could not do something as some people were in opinion that at the time of election, this thing could not be done."
His remarks lived on long in public memory and became a sticking point to beat Cong over its alleged minority appeasement.
2.Severe criticism for remarks
It had come in for severe criticism. BJP had asked Manmohan Singh to ‘break his silence’ on the matter. Meanwhile, going a step further the late Bal Thackeray flayed Gandhi and asked if she laughed when she looked a photos of 26/11 martyrs like Tukaram Ombale and Hemant Karkare.
Even during the 2019 election campaign, BJP President Amit Shah said: “The Batla House encounter happened during the UPA rule. Sonia Gandhi had shed tears for the terrorists killed there. However, she did not cry for the police officer who lost his life in the incident. the Congress must answer this.”
The Batla House encounter took place on September 19, 2008 in Jamia Nagar in Delhi. Two suspected Indian Mujahideen terrorists and a Delhi Police inspector were killed in the encounter. The two suspected terrorists belonged to Azamgarh. Their families allege they were killed in a fake encounter.
3.Batla House Teaser
The teaser starts with a voiceover saying "firing is going on and sir has been injured with two bullets. Two boys.." with visual of heartbeat pulse changing constantly playing on the screen.
Next, the teaser features scenes from the film including firing sequences and the sound of gunshots.
The 26-second teaser ends with a voice saying "What happened that day in Batla House. Were we wrong or Was I wrong?"
The poster shows two cops engaged in firing inside a house with "A house was identified...a conspiracy was scripted, for a fake encounter.." written on the poster.
The thriller drama is inspired by the real Batla House encounter that took place almost a decade ago on September 19, 2008, which is officially known as Operation Batla House. The incident took place against Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorists in Batla House locality in Jamia Nagar, Delhi.
The 'Parmanu' actor will be seen portraying the role of Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, who spearheaded the encounter. As the tagline suggests 'The story of India's Most Decorated/Controversial Cop', the case was about this one man who has had 70 encounters, a record 22 convictions from 30 cases and nine Gallantry Awards.
Helmed by Nikkhil Advani, the movie is written by Ritesh Shah who previously helmed the hit film 'Pink' and will hit the big screens on August 15, 2019.
