Encounter killings by police

"Encounter killing" is a term used in South Asia since the late 20th century to describe killings by the police or the armed forces, allegedly in self-defence, when they encounter suspected gangsters or terrorists. In the 1990s and the mid-2000s, the Mumbai Police used encounter killings to attack the city's underworld, and the practice spread to other large cities.

Critics are sceptical of many of these reported incidents,[1] and further complain that the wide acceptance of the practice has led to incidents of police creating 'false encounters' to cover-up the killing of suspects when they are either in custody or are unarmed.[2]

In India

This term has come into popular use in India since the late 20th century because of a very high frequency of encounter killings by police in such cities as Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata. Some of the killings have been controversial, and critics have alleged that the police created 'fake encounters' as opportunities to kill suspects.[2]

According to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India, there were many cases of alleged fake encounters:

2002–2008

440 cases. States with high number of cases were: Uttar Pradesh (231), Rajasthan (33), Maharashtra (31), Delhi (26), Andhra Pradesh (22) and Uttarakhand (19).[2]

2009/10 - February 2013

555 cases. States with high number of cases were: Uttar Pradesh (138), Manipur (62), Assam (52), West Bengal (35) and Jharkhand (30).[3]

Maharashtra

On 11 January 1982, the gangster Manya Surve was shot dead by police officers Raja Tambat and Isaque Bagwan at the Wadala area. This is often referred to as the city's first recognised encounter killing.[4] From that period until early 2003, the police killed 1,200 alleged criminals.[5]

Members of the Mumbai Police involved in these killings became widely known as 'encounter specialists', and several became well-known to the public in India, including:

Name Designation Encounter killings Source Note
Pradeep Sharma Inspector 312 [6] He once remarked "Criminals are filth and I'm the cleaner".[5][7] He was accused of having staged the encounter of Ram Narayan Gupta and suspended in 2009/10; however, he was acquitted by the court in 2013.[8]
Daya Nayak Sub-Inspector 83 [1]
Praful Bhosale Inspector 77 [9]
Ravindranath Angre Inspector 54 [10]
Sachin Waze Assistant Inspector 63 [11][12] Resigned from service, later joined Shivsena[13]
Vijay Salaskar Inspector 61 [14] killed in November 2008 Mumbai attacks

Punjab

The term 'police encounter' was used often during the Punjab insurgency between 1984 and 1995. During this time, Punjab police officials reported 'encounters' to local newspapers and to the family members of those killed. The victim was typically a person whom the police believed to be a militant or involved in the militant separatist movement; proof of alleged militant involvement was rarely given. Ultimately, the practice became so common that 'encounter' became synonymous with extrajudicial execution.[15][16]

It is alleged that police typically take a suspected militant into custody without filing an arrest report. If the suspect dies during interrogation, security forces would deny ever taking the person into custody and instead claim that he was killed during an armed encounter, placing weapons on or near the body to suggest the police acted in self-defence.[17][18][19][20]

Sukhwinder Singh Bhatti, a criminal defence attorney in Punjab who defended such suspects, disappeared in May 1994 and is alleged to have been killed by the police.[21]

Gujarat

Between 2002 and 2006, 22 police encounter killings were reported in Gujarat.[22] According to the NHRC figures, during 2002–2007, there were four alleged fake encounters in Gujarat (out of 440 fake encounters in all of India).[2] These cases gained national media attention:

It is notable that the only cases which attracts media attention among the hundreds of fake encounter cases as per the data available at public disposal from NHRC .Crimes are reduced due to encounters.peoples are feeling safe.

Uttar Pradesh

When NDA government comes in power in state in March 2017, they ordered state police and initiated the encounter against criminals. There are a lots of controversies happens and police start killing innocents civilians under this plan. National human rights commission issued notice to state government and bench of three judges from supreme court of India already warned and issue notice to Uttar Pradesh government in this case.[26][27] Following are the cases of fake encounter happened in Uttar Pradesh from 2017 to till date.

  • October 2017, Shamli district, Furquan was going under trail but in a planned encounter he was killed.[28]
  • Lekhraj Singh Yadav [29]
  • September 2018, Agra, three people were shot dead in fake encounter.[30]
  • September 2018, Lucknow, Vivek Tiwari employee of a MNC company was killed.[31][32]


Other notable cases

Veerappan, the notorious forest brigand, was reportedly killed by the Special Task Force (STF) in an encounter on 18 October 2004. Some human rights organisations claimed that the circumstantial evidence indicated that he was killed in a fake encounter after being tortured by the police.[33]

On 19 September 2008, Delhi-police Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, a decorated officer, and two suspects were killed in the Batla House encounter case in New Delhi. The encounter led to the arrest of two suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorists, while a third managed to escape. The Shahi Imam of the Jama Masjid termed the encounter as 'totally fake"' and accused the government of harassing Muslims.[34] Several political parties and activists demanded a probe into the allegations that the encounter was fake.[35][36][37] After an investigation, the National Human Rights Commission cleared the Delhi Police personnel of any violations of human rights.[38]

An alleged 'encounter' in 1991, led to the 2016 sentencing of 47 policemen to life imprisonment for the slaying of 11 Sikh pilgrims in the Pilibhit district of Uttar Pradesh.[39]

Police encounters have been featured in several fiction and non-fiction arts.

Film

Books

  • Sacred Games (2007), a novel by Vikram Chandra is based on the police force in Mumbai. It includes dramatic depictions of police encounters.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Bombay's crack 'encounter' police". BBC News. 2004-06-09.
  2. 1 2 3 4 S Gurumurthy (2011-08-11). "Sohrabuddin: Interrogating the media". Indian Express. Retrieved 2012-05-23.
  3. ↑ "NHRC stats show there were more fake encounters in Congress-ruled states than in Narendra Modi's Gujarat". India Today. 2013-07-04.
  4. ↑ "City’s first encounter ended two years of urban dacoity", June 22, 2002, Express India.
  5. 1 2 Alex Perry, "Urban Cowboys", TIME magazine, 6 January 2003
  6. ↑ "Ab Tak 312: Here are things less known about encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma, cop who arrested Iqbal Kaskar". ABP Live.
  7. ↑ "Mumbai: Cop Pradeep Sharma reinstated". The Times Of India. 2009-05-07.
  8. ↑ "Ram Narayan Gupta encounter case: Ex-cop Pradeep Sharma acquitted by Mumbai court". DNA. 2013-07-05. Retrieved 2013-07-25.
  9. ↑ "Encounter man Pradip Sharma completes 'century'", Rediff, 3 June 2004
  10. ↑ www.mumbaimirror.com http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/others/Ab-Tak-Chappan-cop-to-eliminate-civic-problems/articleshow/16173143.cms. Retrieved 7 July 2015. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  11. ↑ Fallen Heroes. India Today. Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.
  12. ↑ Mumbai's encounter specialists out of favour, IBNLive, 26 March 2008.
  13. ↑ "Ex-encounter cop Vaze set to join Sena - Times of India". indiatimes.com. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  14. ↑ "The People's Paper". Tehelka. Archived from the original on 2012-09-12. Retrieved 2013-10-19.
  15. ↑ Dead Silence: The Legacy of Abuses in Punjab. Human Rights Watch/Asia and Physicians for Human Rights. 1994.
  16. ↑ Campbell, Bruce B.; Brenner, Arthur David (2002-10-01). Death Squads in Global Perspective: Murder with Deniability. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 265–. ISBN 978-1-4039-6094-8. Retrieved 19 June 2010.
  17. ↑ Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (India). U.S. State Department. 1993.
  18. ↑ Pepper, Daniel (2009-02-28). "India Makes a Place for Dirty Harry". NY Times. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
  19. ↑ "India-Who Killed the Sikhs". Dateline. 4 March 2002. Archived from the original on September 12, 2007. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
  20. ↑ "Communication to Special Representative on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders" (PDF). Ensaaf. 2006-05-12. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
  21. ↑ "The Twelve Year Cover-Up: Disappearance of Human Rights Attorney Sukhwinder Singh Bhatti". ensaaf.org. ensaaf.org. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  22. ↑ Krishnadas Rajagopal (2012-01-26). "Probe all 22 fake encounters between 2002 and 2006, SC tells Gujarat panel". Indian Express.
  23. ↑ Rana Ayyub (2011-12-03). "Dead Man Talking". Tehelka. 8 (48).
  24. ↑ "Third victory for us, says Ishrat's family". The Hindu. 2011-11-22. Retrieved 2011-11-22.
  25. ↑ "The journalist who cracked Gujarat fake encounter case". rediff.com. 2007-04-25. Retrieved 2011-11-22.
  26. ↑ https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/supreme-court-to-uttar-pradesh-over-fake-encounters/articleshow/64824250.cms
  27. ↑ https://www.ndtv.com/lucknow-news/ngo-alleges-threat-from-up-police-over-fake-encounter-1879645
  28. ↑ https://thewire.in/rights/chronicle-crime-fiction-adityanaths-encounter-raj
  29. ↑ https://thewire.in/security/up-cop-reportedly-warns-gangster-of-encounter-on-tape-boasts-about-killing
  30. ↑ https://www.firstpost.com/india/up-police-invites-media-to-witness-encounter-in-aligarhs-harduaganj-in-bid-to-convey-transparency-shoots-two-men-dead-5230571.html
  31. ↑ https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/up-cops-gun-down-apple-exec-his-offence-refusing-to-stop/articleshow/66011569.cms
  32. ↑ https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/on-patrol-uttar-pradesh-cop-shoots-dead-unarmed-apple-executive-in-car/story-pEr3InOrQ2tNseHWMGzRzN.html
  33. ↑ "Veerappan killed in fake encounter: activists". The Hindu. 2005-01-19. Retrieved 2011-11-22.
  34. ↑ "Batla House encounter fake: Shahi Imam". rediff.com. 2010-02-09. Retrieved 2011-11-22.
  35. ↑ "Batla House Encounter: Unanswered Questions". Outlook. 23 July 2009.
  36. ↑ "SP for judicial inquiry into Jamia encounter". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 8 October 2008.
  37. ↑ "Attack on north Indians, Jamia encounter rocks LS". Indian Express. 20 October 2008.
  38. ↑ "Batla House encounter: NHRC gives clean chit to cops". CNN-IBN. 22 July 2009.
  39. ↑ Sally, Vishal (April 6, 2016). "Pilibhit verdict: For Gurdaspur families, justice delayed, not denied". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 25 February 2017.

Further reading

  • (Organization), Human Rights Watch; Shah, Naureen (2009). Broken System: Dysfunction, Abuse, and Impunity in the Indian Police. Human Rights Watch. ISBN 9781564325181.
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