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UP Killings: Easy Way Out

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2023-04-18 06:54:28

About the Author

Sunil Garodia The India Commentary view

When an elected government decides to 'eliminate' the mafia and the elimination takes the form of encounter killings, it is clear that the government has decided to become the judge, jury and executioner. It has decided to throw due process out of the window, forgotten that the nation has a Constitution and a set of laws enacted by legislative bodies as per the Constitution and a multi-tiered judiciary to bring criminals to justice. Moreover, as a corollary, it also shows that it has little faith in the investigative agencies and the prosecution to prove their case against the mafia in courts and hence it adopts the 'thok do' policy to eliminate such criminals.

What happened in UP in two incidents in quick succession last week was disturbing. In the first incident, UP Police's Special Task Force tracked and killed Asad Ahmed, son of dreaded gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed and Ghulam. The encounter was said to have been conducted on a busy road and the police said that the criminals fired first and they fired to kill. While it can be granted that if the criminals are firing to kill policemen, the retaliatory fire can also be deadly. But policemen undergo training to hit criminals on the body in a bid to main, overpower and capture them and bring them to justice through courts. It seems that in UP that is considered to be a lengthy, time-consuming affair and the trigger-happy policemen, applauded by the Chief Minister, are content in closing the case on the streets by pumping bullets and killing the criminals. This is clearly a wrong policy.

Then, in another shocking incident, Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf, speaking to media persons on their way to a hospital for mandatory health check-up, were killed when three persons posing as TV reporters pumped bullets at point blank range. The incident was recorded on live TV. To top it all, it happened amidst maximum security as Atiq was a dreaded criminal. Not one or two but many bullets were fired and the security persons did not act to prevent the killings. How did the assailants come anywhere near the criminals carrying guns? Were they not frisked? Or was this also a 'staged encounter' that was 'permitted'?

This kind of extrajudicial justice must stop if we wish to remain a nation governed by rule of law. Otherwise, jungle raj is not far away.

                

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