India’s killing fields

Personnel from the Special Task Force gunned down eight Simi activists who allegedly escaped from Bhopal Central Jail after killing a security guard. (Photo: Solaris Images)

The killing of 8 Simi activists within hours of breaking out of Bhopal Central Jail has stirred up a hornet’s nest. But even as politicians indulge in a slugfest, it’s time we put our faith in the judiciary to save democracy! Extra-judicial killings have become a common phenomenon in the country’s criminal justice system. The need for an independent probe becomes even more imperative when the chief minister seeks ex post facto endorsement of killings from a frenzied crowd as if it were a kangaroo court. When the government has no explanation for what transpired, fanning public anxiety is not going to help. What the chief minister is doing is like selling the constitutional soul to buy momentary respite. Guilt or innocence can neither be decided by a kangaroo court nor by T.V. studios or social media trials. It is the first duty of the state to uphold the rule of law and punish the guilty. Instead of discharging its primary obligation, the chief minister seems to be destroying the Constitutional Structure on which the republic is founded.

Encounter philosophy is a criminal philosophy and all policemen must know that, out of the total of 513 deaths of human species in police custody between 2011-15, not one policeman has been convicted.

It does not matter whether a victim was a common person, militant or a terrorist. Nor does it matter whether the aggressor was a common person or the State. The law is equally applicable to both. This is the requirement of a democracy.

“Killings in police encounters require independent investigation,” the SC held in the PUCL case, which related to 99 encounters by Mumbai police between 1995 and 1997.

The audio clip for nine minutes suggests that the policemen had orders to kill them from before and that there was neither any intention nor any effort to arrest them. The walkie-talkie recording also seem to support the footage and strengthens the suspicion that the escapees were unarmed and so there is no question of their having opened fire on the policemen.

The new audio leaks carry a statement “Finish Them All”; if this were true, it would make a case of brutal murder. Moreover, the first eyewitness Naresh Pal has made a statement the he did not see any firearms with the escapees. Arif Mohammed, State President of All India Milli Council, claims that there is evidence in the form of visuals of the video clips submitted to the MP high court, that the prisoners who were killed wanted to surrender. The PIL was filed by Masood & Ors. in the MP high court. It is only after the high court issued notice to the state government that a judicial enquiry was ordered by the latter. The CM and the state government realised that they could not stem the tide of uncomfortable revelations every hour. Once the HC also asked for a detailed report from the Anti-Terror Squad about the encounter, the government realised that it was safer to constitute a judicial inquiry.

The jail authorities complain that the security personnel to prisoner ratio was only 1:10 whereas the recommended ratio in the jail manual is 1:6, but what is shocking proof of bad governance is that more than 80 jail officials were posted at the residence of ministers, ex-ministers, senior police officers and former senior police officers, reducing the security personnel to prisoner ratio to dangerously low levels. The number of security personnel posted in prison was so low that the personnel were scared of going into the prison areas alone.

Committee after committee is being constituted with suggestions of electrified fences, but who is going to ensure that they will remain operational In the case of instant jailbreak, the security towers around the high prison wall maintain a deafening silence. In fact, it is still a mystery as to how, without the help of some of the prison staff, the prisoners could have scaled a 35-foot-high wall, with the help of bed sheets and towels.

Vyapam and the jailbreak encounter have revealed the rot in MP administration. We hope that the Commission of Inquiry will not become a convenient excuse for inaction against those who are prima facie involved in the murder. Quite independent of the Commission of Inquiry, the HC needs to crack the whip and direct the government to register murder cases against those who fired at and killed persons in cold blood. Immediate registration of FIRs followed by the normal process of investigation and arrest of the suspects alone can infuse confidence in citizens that the rule of law governs them.

The significance of independent probes is now being felt once again in the case of a suspicious escape from Bhopal Prison and mindless gunning down of escapees. Thus, legitimate tools have to be crafted for dealing with the menace of terror. Fake encounters and ‘encounter specialists’ is not one of them. Let the police stop killing people out of frustration and let the rule of law be enforced in letter and spirit.

K.T.S. Tulsi is a senior advocate and member of Parliament.