Kanpur: Social workers garland policemen for killing of gangster Vikas Dubey, outside the mortuary at the Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital in Kanpur, Friday, July 10, 2020. Dubey, accused of killing eight policemen, was killed in an encounter when he allegedly tried to escape from an accident spot while being brought to Kanpur from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh a day after his arrest. (PTI Photo) (PTI10-07-2020_000122B)
The evolved humanity has laid down some principles of its own on killing other humans. It is limited to punishment for heinous criminal acts meted out by the appropriate judicial authorities, or treason, sedition etc. of a grave nature endangering a society. Sometimes leaders also face the hangman’s noose for genocides and murders.
The argumentative humans debated on human rights, even over extreme criminal acts of rape and gruesome murders like Nirbhaya’s, or the serial killings of Nithari. The cases drag on for years, if not decades, making law a mockery. It is evident in cases where the criminals are party leaders, like in the case of Kuldip Singh Sengar, who raped and later killed his victim in Unnao.
The role of the police comes in whenever a crime is committed. The policemen have to rush to the spot of crime, file a FIR, secure evidence, send the body for a truthful post-mortem and ensure a fair play throughout.
The utility of thugs and criminals in India during elections is historical. The services of shady elements are sought for silencing opponents or for extortion. The nexus between the politicians and the criminals have been long established, even judiciary fuming at the unholy alliances. The gangs allying to ruling parties are duly rewarded territorial control and the police partnering them in the criminal activities.
The police face the embarrassment of overgrown criminals who have to be silenced. Encounters then come handy, for escaping revelations of unpalatable truth in the courts and before the media.
In the recent memory, the Telangana cops finished off rapists and murderers in a cold blood. Now we see the dreaded criminal Vikas Dubey killed in another encounter in full public glare. The system promoting the criminals has not been touched at all, despite alleged five-thousand encounter killings in the last three years in Uttar Pradesh alone.
Ordinary folks live in fear over the reprisals of the criminals soon after staged search visits and raids of the police. Insiders in the police forces are often informers and on the payroll of the criminals and mafia.
The hottest debate yet again is if the encounter death, despite feeble and false picturization of a vehicle turned turtle facing a herd of cattle crossing wet roads, and the criminal snatching a gun, firing at the cops and fleeing and in turn killed in an encounter could all be hogwash. But then, if human rights activists and political opponents cry foul, many heave a sigh of relief at the killing of the criminal, regardless of the manner the summary execution took place.
The police force, who are supposed to be law-keepers, should not be lawbreakers and must turn the criminals over for facing the due process of law. One might say the law is an ass, but that is a wholly different story. The parading of Iswar Tyagi in Baghpat Bazar in UP in 2013 or the sodomization killing of a son-father duo merely for keeping their shop open beyond lockdown timings are a reflection of the sickness that has pervaded the police force. No matter what, the police cannot become defacto criminals while wearing uniforms.
Trying to capitalize on the encounter, Hussain Dalwai, a Congress leader, tries a time-tested caste angle, shedding crocodile tears over a Brahmin killing. He adds that Muslims and Brahmins are not safe in U.P., which is pathetic and reflects the lows of the party.
It is a time for introspection and accountability of the police force as well as to ensure a speedy justice system.
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
In pic: The public mood!
