Seventeen years have passed since the Batla House ‘encounter’, yet its impact remains deeply etched in many homes in Azamgarh. With the exception of just one or two, most of the young men arrested after the incident are still behind bars. Multiple cases have been filed against them in different cities, keeping their families trapped in an unending cycle of court hearings, legal expenses, and alternating moments of hope and despair.
One of these young men, Shahzad, died in jail. For many families, the pain is compounded by fear. Parents, siblings, and relatives remain reluctant to speak openly about the case. They worry that if their son’s name appears in the media or is mentioned in court again, it might worsen his situation.
This fear became evident when, over the past few days, I attempted to reach out to activists and family members connected to the case. Almost no one was willing to speak on record.
The conditions in these families remain extremely vulnerable. Many parents have passed away, unable to bear the shock of losing their children to encounters or long imprisonment. Atif Amin, who was killed in the Batla House ‘encounter’, lost both his father and brother in the years that followed; only his mother is alive today. The father of Mohammad Sajid (killed in an ‘encounter’) also died in grief. Similarly, Mohammad Salman’s grandfather, along with the fathers of Arif Badr, Mohammad Ariz Khan, and Abu Rashid, have all died, weighed down by grief and despair.
In many of these households, the pattern is tragically similar: for nearly every young man still in jail, there has been a death in the family linked to the trauma of this long, painful ordeal.
On September 19, 2008, two young men — Atif Amin and Mohammad Sajid — were killed in what police described as an ‘encounter’ at the L-18 flat in Batla House, located in Delhi’s Jamia Nagar. Atif was a Master’s student in Human Rights at Jamia Millia Islamia, while Sajid had recently arrived in Delhi to prepare for his 11th-grade entrance exam. Both were accused of involvement in the 2008 Delhi serial bomb blasts and labeled as members of the Indian Mujahideen. During the same operation, Delhi Police Special Cell Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma also lost his life.
The incident was followed by a wave of arrests targeting Muslim youths across the country. From Azamgarh district alone, 14 young men were detained and branded as “Indian Mujahideen terrorists,” with their names linked to multiple bomb blasts nationwide. Seven others were declared absconders, a number that grew to ten after Mohammad Rashid, Sharafuddin, and Shadab were added five years later. In 2012, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a case against these three under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) — notably, without citing any specific incident in the FIR.
Today, many of those arrested remain in jails across India, while their families continue to struggle for justice amid years of legal battles and uncertainty.
The young men arrested from Azamgarh were linked by investigators to multiple high-profile terror cases. These included the Jaipur serial blasts of May 13, 2008, the Ahmedabad bombings of July 26, 2008, the recovery of unexploded devices in Surat, the Delhi serial blasts of September 13, 2008, the coordinated explosions at courts in Varanasi, Faizabad, and Lucknow on November 23, 2007, and the Gorakhpur Gol Ghar blast of May 22, 2007.
In the Jaipur case, a total of eight separate trials were conducted, involving around 1,200 witnesses. In 2019, a special court in Jaipur sentenced Mohammad Saif, Mohammad Sarwar Azmi, Saifur Rehman, and Mohammad Salman to death, while one accused, Shahbaz Hussain, was acquitted due to insufficient evidence.
However, on March 29, 2023, the Rajasthan High Court not only rejected the police’s “flawed” and “failed” investigation but also highlighted “manipulation and forgery” of evidence. The court stated clearly that the investigation was unfair and that the officers had employed “unethical methods.” The judges went further, directing the Rajasthan Police Chief to take action against the officers involved.
According to news reports, the state government has subsequently approached the Supreme Court to challenge the High Court’s decision.
Following the High Court’s earlier decision, a ninth FIR was filed concerning a bomb discovered on May 13, 2008, near a guest house in Chandpole Bazaar, Jaipur. The bomb was defused just 15 minutes before it could detonate, preventing another major disaster. This led to the reopening of the case against the accused.
On April 4, 2025, the Jaipur special court sentenced Saif-ur-Rehman, Mohammad Saif, Mohammad Sarwar Azmi, and Shahbaz Ahmed to rigorous life imprisonment in connection with this incident.
The matter is now before the Rajasthan High Court. On May 13, 2025, the court called for the records of Shahbaz Ahmed when he appeared for the hearing of his appeal against the conviction. The court has also issued a notice to the state government regarding the case.
In Ahmedabad, all related cases have been consolidated and are being heard under Sessions Trial No. 38/2009, involving more than 3,500 witnesses. All the young men arrested in connection with these cases remain in jail as accused.
By comparison, the Delhi serial blasts case involves around 1,000 witnesses. In that case, Saqib Nisar had challenged a July 2022 trial court order that denied him bail under the UAPA. His appeal was dismissed on April 29, 2024, and the matter is still pending before the trial court.
In the Batla House encounter case concerning the death of Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, on July 25, 2013, the Saket Sessions Court in Delhi sentenced one accused, Shahzad Ahmed (also known as Pappu). Later, in 2018, Ariz Khan (alias Junaid) was reportedly arrested at the Nepal border on police instructions. On March 15, 2021, the trial court found him guilty of the murder of Inspector Sharma and sentenced him to death, along with a fine of 1.1 million rupees.
However, when the case reached the Delhi High Court, the death sentence was reduced to life imprisonment on October 13, 2023. Meanwhile, Shahzad fell ill while in jail and passed away on January 28, 2023.
Seventeen years on, the scars of the Batla House ‘encounter’ remain raw, and justice still feels out of reach for the families. The echoes of the encounter still shape their lives, with justice still seeming far away.
Afroz Alam Sahil is a journalist and author. He can be contacted at @afrozsahil on X.
