'... A daughter of Bihar was killed in Gujarat'

The Janata Dal-United (JD-U) yesterday targeted friend-turned-foe BJP over Ishrat Jahan, who hailed from Bihar, after the CBI said she was killed in cold blood by Gujarat Police.

Nine years after Ishrat Jahan was gunned down in an alleged shootout, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday filed a chargesheet in a court naming at least six policemen as accused.

"Ishrat Jahan was a daughter of Bihar and she was killed in Gujarat. What crime did she committ? Why are BJP leaders in Bihar silent over the killing?" asked JD-U spokesperson Neeraj Kumar.

Ishrat's grandfather Wali Mohammad belonged to Khagaul area near Patna. Her father Mohammad Shamim had married Shamima Qausar of Jamalpur in Bihar. They later moved to Maharashtra.

Truth revealed: After the chargesheet was filed yesterday, Ishrat Jahan's sister Nusrat said that the family is happy as it has been proven that her sibling was innocent. File Pic

Ishrat's maternal uncle Muzibbur Rehman is a teacher at the Patna-based National Institute of Technology. "Ishrat Jahan's fake encounter in Gujarat has exposed the horrible ground reality in Gujarat," Neeraj Kumar said. "A particular community is not safe and several of its youths were being killed in fake encounters" he said.

"We plant a tree after a girl child is born in Bihar and celebrate but one of our daughters was murdered in cold blood. It is shameful for BJP-ruled Gujarat," he said. The JD-U dumped the BJP last month over the growing clout of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi in the BJP.

‘Govt should reveal Ishrat's terrorist links'
Targeting the government over the CBI chargesheet in the Ishrat Jahan staged shootout case, BJP president Rajnath Singh yesterday said the government should disclose "her terror links".u00a0He said the government should disclose which terrorist outfit Ishrat Jahan was associated with. "What was her track record? With which terror outfit was she linked? There should be a disclosure from the government on this," he said. He added that over 3,000 staged shootouts had taken place before 2002, but hype was being created only around the Ishrat Jahan case. Singh claimed that the case was being hyped for political purposes.u00a0