Victims' families happy, but say fight is still on

"Kaheki khushi? We want those behind the encounter to be hanged." Clearly, the SIT's conclusion that Ishrat Jehan was killed in an encounter in 2004 has failed to calm her brother, 23-year-old Anwar Sheikh.

"Kaheki khushi? We want those behind the encounter to be hanged." Clearly, the SIT's conclusion that Ishrat Jehan was killed in an encounter in 2004 has failed to calm her brother, 23-year-old Anwar Sheikh.

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The family is far from celebrating. Amid all the jubilation in Mumbra, the sound of crackers and distribution of sweets by neighbours, Ishrat's house in Rasheed compound is silent.

Ishrat, Javed Ghulam Sheikh aka Pranesh Pillai, Amjad Ali aka Rajkumar Akbar Ali Rana and Jisan Johar Abdul Gani were killed in an encounter by the Ahmedabad police, led by the then deputy commissioner of police D G Vanzara, on June 15, 2004. The "victory" -the acknowledgement that Ishrat was innocent and was killed- has come after seven long years.

"We have been saying from the beginning that she was killed in a fake encounter," said Ishrat's mother Shamima Kauser.

Kauser, who has no formal education and still doesn't understand the legal aspects, was the one who decided to get justice for her daughter.

"Ishrat was afraid of the dark and would ask me to stay up with her when she was studying late in the night. Without her, we have been plunged into darkness," Kauser said.

Along with Gopinath Pillai, father of Javed Ghulam Sheikh aka Pranesh Pillai, she filed a petition in the high court.

"The report has come as a ray of light," Kauser said. But the fight is still on. "I won't get my sister back, but I don't want this to happen to anyone else," Ishrat's brother said.

In Kerala's Alapuzha district, Gopinath Pillai was happy that his struggle has yielded results.

"I never wanted to be called the father of a traitor. I will not rest until all the accused policemen are brought before the law," he said.