Ever since videos of the alleged police encounter of the eight undertrial prisoners of the Bhopal Central prison surfaced on news and social media, controversial statements have been pouring in from every quarter.
In fact, the debate over the authenticity of the encounter has riled up politicians, ministers, media persons, security authorities and former judges, all seem to have something to say. Here are the strangest statements made by people, directly in charge of the incident:
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Twitter
सिमी के सभी फरार आतंकियों के मारे जाने से पूरे प्रदेश ने राहत की साँस ली है और सुरक्षा को लेकर मेरी भी चिंता समाप्त हुई है।
— ShivrajSingh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) October 31, 2016
‘The whole state breathes in relief after the killing of all eight SIMI terrorists and even my secocerns regarding security have come to an end’.
Jail Minister Kusum Mehdale to NDTV
“I accept there are lapses on our part. Some CCTVs in the jail may not be working. How they managed to scale the wall I don’t know. — You should praise us for killing the accused even though they escaped…they were stopped from carrying out more dangerous acts.”
Later on being asked about the CCTV cameras however, this is what she said:
Mujhe nahi pata, hum wahaan nahi the: MP Jail Minister Kusum Mehdele on being asked if CCTVs in jail were working #bhopalprisonbreak pic.twitter.com/sdRTkxMxPm
— ANI (@ANI_news) November 1, 2016
(I don’t know, I wasn’t there)
Bhupendra Singh, Home Minister of MP to reporters
Whenever terrorists are killed in an encounter, there are a few people in our country who raise doubts especially Congressmen: MP HM pic.twitter.com/ItyHX9fowm
— ANI (@ANI_news) November 1, 2016
He had also said that the escapees were armed with ‘spoons and plates’ which they used as weapons against security forces.
Police IG Yogesh Choudhary, however claimed that the eight SIMI members shot at the policemen, after which the police fired back, killing the eight, Economic Times reported.
Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Law Minister to reporters
I need to ask Sonia Gandhi whether or not what Digvijaya Singh is saying is Congress party’s line?: Ravi Shankar Prasad #Bhopalencounter pic.twitter.com/2Hgi0AuQXD
— ANI (@ANI_news) November 1, 2016
Earlier too Digvijaya Singh had raised questions about Batla House encounter & Sonia Gandhi had to say that it wasn’t party’s line:RS Prasad pic.twitter.com/cSAqW4Z3ei
— ANI (@ANI_news) November 1, 201
LKS Bhadauria, Senior Official ad Head Jailer in Bhopal Central Prison to NDTV.
The head jailer said that with so many SIMI prisoners in one place, such a breakout and subsequent incident was ‘waiting to happen’.
“If you have so many (29) SIMI prisoners (in one place), something like this is bound to happen,”
Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State, Home to media
Rijiju told mediapersons that the ‘habit’ of questioning and doubting authorities and security forces, especially in times when the army is defending the country in the border, should be stopped.
It’s not good to raise doubts on security forces when they are dealing with terrorists: @KirenRijiju on #SIMIEncounter
— IndiaTodayFLASH (@IndiaTodayFLASH) November 1, 2016
MoS Home @KirenRijiju says that the habit of always raising doubts on any Government action must stop.
— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) November 1, 2016
Feature Image Source: PTI