Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Police encounters – can they be justified?' that was published in Newsband

Police encounters – can they be justified?

Killings in police encounters is a big issue The support from the ruling party and the administration often helps as cover-up for such killings. Since such killings are become a common occurrence, the court has asked the State governments to send a report once in six months (January 15 and July 15 every year) on all incidents of death in police firing, in a prescribed format. At the same time the Supreme Court itself has pointed out, one cannot be oblivious to the fact that the police in India have to perform a delicate task, especially wherever extremism and organised crime have taken strong roots. But SC did not deny that even such criminals must be dealt with by the police

by following the rule of law.

The encounters have taken place in almost all the states. What gave birth to such encounters? Rising crime, backing from politicians and failure of judiciary (long to convict and corrupt) makes it inevitable. Then few people rise to it and clean system by their means. One can imagine current Mumbai without such steps taken by Police

A large number of innocent people and police personnel are mercilessly killed by the extremists. But any counter by the Police is taken seriously, termed as fake encounters and is questioned by Civil Society and in certain cases the judiciary and the Human Rights Commission. Sometimes, even killing of dreaded gangster or a criminal is questioned by these agencies. This is not only a blow to the morality of police force but also a support and encouragement to perverted elements.

Institutional reforms on functioning of police force is the need of the hour to ensure that enforcement agency does not commit murders under the garb of encounters while the rule of law is maintained. The criminal jurisprudence and police laws are too archaic for our times. There is obviously something wrong in our laws. When it takes four years to punish one terrorist with enormous evidence of having murdered 165 people in Mumbai, the whole process becomes a mockery. There should be some semblance of balance. If criminals can act with impunity and police have to act with their hands tied behind their back where is the balance? Civilian overseeing is necessary but at the same time the judicial process should be completed in a time bound manner for all cases.

Because of hard core extremist activities the question of security thread is a major concern for many nations and India can’t be an exemption. While wiping out these inhuman activities remains the main focus of the police forces, for self-defense they are forced to resort to cold blooded shoot outs which can’t be denied or ruled out. At the same time in deliberate attempts to pay off political vendetta, innocents become the prey of such disguised encounters. It is heartening to note that the Honorable court is adding more provisions in the Criminal procedure to rule out any such deliberate attempts. However it is feared that more stringent measures of accountability will call for more causalities in our own forces in their attempts to ensure fairness to the suspected extremists/innocents about whom a true judgment can’t be perceived at face value.