Muslim group Jamaat-e-Islami Hind on Saturday termed as "staged" the jailbreak of eight undertrials from a jail in Madhya Pradesh and their deaths in a gunfight with police, and demanded a probe into the matter.
"How could the escapees got access to weapons? Why are there contradictory statements from police on whether they had weapons or not? How did they get new clothes, watches and bands? If they had connections to get weapons, why couldn't they get vehicles to escape?" asked the organisation.
The Jamaat, which had expressed its concern about the matter earlier, demanded a high-level judicial probe to bring out all the facts about the October 31 incident, calling it fake.
Hours after they escaped from a high-security jail in the Madhya Pradesh capital after killing a guard, eight undertrial activists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) were shot dead by police in an alleged gun battle.
However, a judicial probe was ordered by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government on Saturday.
The Jamaat also accused the Narendra Modi government of "straitjacketing" the whole society by bringing the Uniform Civil Code.
"India is known for its plurality. It has so many tribes and communities which have their own distinct cultures... by imposing this code they (the government) are trying to destroy the society," its Secretary General Saleem Engineer told IANS.
"And to those who are advocating for the UCC, must know that they in no way represent the crores of Muslim women living under the current laws," he said.
The Jamaat also condemned the role of police and JNU administration in failing to do enough in tracing Najeeb Ahmed, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student who disappeared after being beaten up by other students on the campus.
"They are not taking action fearing adverse repercussions from the NDA government whose Hindutva line they are toeing. I am very dissatisfied with the whole investigation," Engineer added.
The Jamaat also expressed its dissatisfaction over the government's one-day ban on NDTV news channel.
--IANS
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