Indian lawyer and former Union minister Kapil Sibal on Sunday raised questions on the encounter of 19-year-old Asad Ahmad, son of now murdered gangster Atiq Ahmad.
Sibal asked how Asad could have posed a security threat to the country that he had to be eliminated in an encounter. "But an individual, Asad, a young boy whose age is 19, how can he threaten the security of the country? If you want to catch him, hit him on the leg, prosecute him. Why do you want to kill him," Kapil Sibal said a day after Asad's father Atiq Ahmad was killed in police custody. Asad was killed in a police encounter in Jhansi two days prior to Atiq and Atiq’s brother Ashraf.
Sibal's 'young boy' comment drew criticism from BJP's Priti Gandhi who said, "When you think about it, the Kapil Sibals of our country are a bigger threat to national security than the Asad Ahmeds!!" The comment also did not go down well with some social media users who questioned how old was LeT terrorist Ajmal Kasab during 26/11.
A former Congress leader and a senior advocate, Sibal said the Supreme Court should take cognizance of the matter and set the whole process of law on who should be arrested and how long he should be in jail.
Asad Ahmad and his aide, accused in the killing of Umesh Pal who was a key witness in the 2005 murder of BSP leader Raju Pal, were killed on Thursday in an encounter by the UP police special task force. Asad's father gangster Atiq Ahmad and his (Atiq) brother Ashraf were killed in police custody by three assailants last night on live television.
