On 19 September this year, to mark the second anniversary of the killing of two youths at Batla House in an 'encounter,' AISA held a massive procession at Batla House. The procession protested against the refusal of the government to concede the demand for a judicial probe into the incident in spite of civil liberties' activists having pointed out the gaping holes in the police version, and despite the NHRC requirement of a magisterial probe into every encounter killing.
Apart from students of JNU, DU and Jamia Millia Islamia, a large number of local residents also spontaneously joined the procession. On the previous day, AISA activists had distributed leaflets widely and held street corner mike campaigns calling for the procession.
The demonstration culminated in a mass meeting at Tikona Park which was addressed by AISA General Secretary Ravi Rai, CPI(ML) CCM Kavita Krishnan, Farah Farooqui of the JTSA, AISA President Sandeep Singh and several others. Speakers commented on the Congress leader Digvijay Singh's Azamgarh visit as the ruling party's attempt to run with the hare and hunt with the hound, pointing out that in spite of Singh's promises of a 'healing touch,' no probe had been ordered in spite of the fact that post mortem reports of the slain youth obtained through RTI had revealed injuries which are in no way consistent with an encounter.
