Batla House: Post-mortem report confirms Atif, Sajid were hit by blunt force

By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,

Batla House encounter victims Atif Ameen and Mohd Sajid were hit by ‘blunt force impact by object or surface’, besides multiple gunshot wounds. The post-mortem report, a copy of which is with TwoCircles.net, has confirmed this. The family members and relatives of the two terror suspects of Azamgarh, who gave them last bath, had claimed the bodies had multiple injuries of brutal beating. The million dollar question: why the police had to resort to beating of the suspects during a ‘genuine’ encounter.

Whether Atif Ameen and Mohd Sajid were involved in terror activities only the court can decide. But genuineness of the September 2008 Batla House encounter in which the two Azamgarh youths were killed has been contested since the day one on various counts. The injury marks other than the gunshot wounds on their bodies were presented by the families and several independent fact finding teams and human rights activists as strong proof that the encounter was fake and the duo were killed pointblank.

This is the first time since the encounter that the post-mortem report has come into public, thanks to tireless efforts of RTI activist Afroz Alam Sahil, a Jamia Millia Islamia student. To get this post-mortem report he knocked at every suitable door – Delhi police, AIIMS, Central Information Commission and National Human Rights Commission, but was shunted out on one ground or the other. Ultimately today he received the report from NHRC.

The four-page post-mortem report of Atif Amen says the cause of death was “shock and haemorrhage as a result of multiple injuries as described. All the injuries are produced by firearm ammunition except injury no 7 which is produced by blunt force impact by object or surface.”

In total the 24-year-old had 21 injuries on his body and all the injuries were “antemortem in nature,” says the report. Of 21, the number of gunshot wounds was 16.

Describing the injury no 7, the report says it was “reddish brown abrasion of 1.5x1 cm over outer and interior aspect of right knee cap.”

Similarly, Mohd Sajid, who had five bullet holes on the upper side of the head, was also beaten with blunt object.

His four-page post-mortem report mentions the cause of death was “craniocerebral damage as a result of gunshot injuries to head.”

Sajid had 14 injuries on his body. “Injury no. 1-12 are produced by firearm ammunition while injury no 13 and 14 are produced by blunt force impact on surface or by object,” confirms the report adding all the injuries were antemortem in nature.

Describing injury no. 13 the report says it was “4x2 cm abrasion, red in colour over back of chest in midline” and injury no. 14 was “laceration of size 3.5x2cm horizontally over front of right leg in the middle.”

Of 14, he had 11 gunshot wounds.

The two-page report of Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma who sustained bullet injuries during the shootout mentions the cause of death as “haemorrhagic shock due to firearm injury to abdomen.”

While mentioning antemortem injuries on Inspector Sharma, the report prominently says the entry wound on left shoulder and left upper arm was explored and debrided. Similarly, the exit wound on left arm and 10 cm below left shoulder top and 8 cm above left elbow joint was also explored and debrided. The post mortem report also says that it is alleged the deceased sustained injuries during cross firing in a police encounter in Jamia Nagar on 19/09/2008, he was taken to Holy Family hospital where he died the same day at 7 pm.