Amit Mishra, the lawyer appearing for railway constable Chetan Singh (33), who gunned down four persons in cold blood in a moving Jaipur-Mumbai Central superfast train on July 31, is a former office-bearer of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Mishra was active in the BJP unit in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh for several years and could be seen in photographs with several leaders of the party in different photographs.
However, Ashish Shelar, president of the Mumbai unit of the BJP, categorically stated his party had not hired any lawyer to defend Chetan Singh. In fact, the BJP has vehemently condemned the mindless killing and its government has acted swiftly to ensure a foolproof probe so that Chetan Singh is given the strongest punishment as laid down in law.
Deep anguish in the Muslim community
The gory incident has caused deep anguish in the Muslim community since three of the four victims were shot dead with an automatic weapon by Singh just because they were Muslims. Singh not only targeted Muslims, but also made a speech in front of a dead body hailing BJP leaders, including PM Narendra Modi and U.P. chief minister Yogi Adityanath. He also made a reference to Thackeray. The speech revealed his intense hatred for Muslims. Apart from assistant sub-inspector Tika Ram, others killed were Asgar Sheikh, Syed Saifullah and Abdul Qadir Mohammed.
Mishra told FPJ on Saturday that he was not an active member of the BJP anymore, but continued to subscribe to its ideology. He explained that he had taken up the case of Chetan Singh purely out of professional responsibility. He said every accused had a Constitutional right to be defended. “I am only doing my duty as a lawyer. Chetan Singh has a right to be defended. I have not been engaged by any political party or organisation," he emphasised.
It is learnt that Mishra, who normally practises on the criminal side, was active in the Bharatiya Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the BJP in Jaunpur.
He started his political career at the “mandal" level, which is the basic unit of the BJP organisation, and then rose up to the Zilla or district level. In that connection, he had met several top BJP leaders, including Yogi Adityanath. He had also interacted with Kripashankar Singh, a former Congress minister who later defected to the BJP since the leader also hails from Jaunpur.
"Toxic atmosphere" in the country
Many Muslim organisations have attributed the dastardly killings to the ``toxic atmosphere" in the country. They have demanded that Chetan Singh's murder trial be put on the fast track and exemplary punishment be meted out to him.
Apart from IPC section 302 (murder) the police have also invoked IPC 153A and 363 (kidnapping); 341 (wrongful restraint) and 342 (wrongful confinement) apart from the relevant sections of the Arms Act and the Railways Act.
Section 153A (promoting enmity between groups) was added on the basis of the viral video clips of the incident. However, Muslim groups have demanded that the National Security Act be invoked since it was an act of terrorism.
