Police encounters, are they to be celebrated, are they an act of bravery or just oppression of weak? It is a question that needs an answer. We all know that encounters are an act of bravery, but we forget that the one encountered also had their rights, as humans. People have now forgotten that “An eye for an eye leaves the world blind.” Many are times are there arguments that those are criminals who have done heinous crimes, but if those have done crimes, then it is the duty of the judiciary to adjudicate. Encounters just bypass the system, legal procedures to provide them with instant justice. As responsible citizens, we should demand a fair inquiry about the encounter but the public nowadays endorse encounters without differentiation, it doesn’t matter to people if the encounter was fake or real. A major role is played by the film industry in making such a mindset of people, many movies picture vigilantes instead of police. Vigilantes surely could be heroes for some, but in the dress of police, they won’t be less than monsters. Because police are there to ensure law not to break them, at least publicly. They are role models, if they act as vigilantes, the day won’t be far when we would be living in a society of vigilantes that won’t do any good. Encounters violate the Indian constitution’s Article 21, which deliberately states that, “No person will be deprived of his life or personal liberty except in accordance with the procedure established by law “. If the guards of the constitution violate it, how can society be trusted to uphold it? Often arguments are provided by police is that these were dreaded criminals against whom no one would dare to provide evidence, but this philosophy is too flawed to be accepted as true. As we all know, India is one of the countries that are awarded the honor of most corrupt countries. So to get rid of a rival, such philosophies are present corruption scenarios could be used. Even the Supreme court of India acknowledged the cold-blooded murders enshrouded behind the encounters. In Prakash Kadam vs Ramprasad Vishwanath Gupta paragraph 26 of the judgment, says, “ Trigger happy policemen who think they can kill people in the name of ‘encounter’ and get away with it should know that the gallows await them”. Whether it is the encounter of ferocious Vikas Dubey, Kanpur, or the Hyderabad encounter where the police were garlanded, the scripting of the encounters couldn’t hide, because of the fact that the script was not at all as they know, no one would raise questions except for a small group which could be silenced through the “Anti-National” ammunition. These are people who have been charged for heinous crimes but, they didn’t get a fair chance to counsel, to prove their point, to raise the shroud from the officials who helped them reach such heights. Vikas Duby had 60 criminal cases against him, no ordinary person could even dare to have even 1 case against him. He murdered 8 police personnel, no commoner could even dare to get in a verbal feud with an official. This could have been possible only if he also had a godfather to look after his deeds. But due to the encounter, the nexus behind couldn’t come in limelight and is still functioning. This encounter did more harm than good to the society and similarly, several other encounters, undermine the foundation of the society without even the societal members noticing it, instead garlanding them, endorsing them. The celebration of such extra-judicial killings, endorsement by the pop culture and politicians should be questioned by the society, else it won’t be far when a near and dear to you could be having the same fate.
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