Encounter killings by police

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.[7] From that period until early 2003, the police killed 1,200 alleged criminals.[8]

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:

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.[18][19]

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.[20][21][22][23]

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.[24]

Between 2002 and 2006, 22 police encounter killings were reported in Gujarat.[25] 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).[3] These cases gained national media attention:

• Sadiq Jamal (2003)[26]
• Ishrat Jahan case (2004)[27]
• Sohrabuddin Sheikh case (2005)[28]
• Tulsiram Prajapati case (2006)

When the NDA government came into power in the state in March 2017, they ordered state police to initiate the encounters against criminals. There were many controversies regarding this. National human rights commission issued a notice to the state government and a bench of three judges from the supreme court of India warned and issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government in this case.[29][30]

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.[31]

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.[32] Several political parties and activists demanded a probe into the allegations that the encounter was fake.[33][34][35] After an investigation, the National Human Rights Commission cleared the Delhi Police personnel of any violations of human rights.[36] While sections of the media still oppose the ruling and believe the police to be culprits, a video clip that surfaced in 2016 featured a confession from the terrorist who had escaped the encounter, about how he managed to do so and later join the ISIS, further confirming the credibility of the encounter.

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.[37]

In 2019, all four men accused in the 2019 Hyderabad gang rape were killed in a police encounter on 6 December 2019. Police alleged that one of four had gestured to the other three to flee after attacking the cops, that the four tried to run towards a deserted pathway, and that the cops opened fire in self-defense.[38][39][40]

On 13 January 2018, Naqeebullah Mehsud was killed in a fake encounter staged by the senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rao Anwar in Karachi, sparking countrywide protests against extrajudicial killings.

A Lahore-based family had been travelling to a family member's wedding in a car driven by their neighbour on 19 January 2019. They were shot down near Sahiwal toll plaza.[46]

On January 16, 2018, when the inquiry against Rao Anwar was about to start following the extrajudicial killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud, Rao Anwar claimed that he came under attack in Karachi's Malir Cantonment while he was heading towards his house. He alleged that a suicide attacker detonated explosives near him and his squad but they remained unhurt, and that two accomplices of the attacker then opened fire on the police, both of whom were shot dead in the exchange of fire. He also alleged that a few militants escaped the site under the cover of fire while the police and Pakistan Rangers were conducting search operation.[47][48] However, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) probing the case doubted if a suicide attack had even taken place at the site.[49] The investigators found out that contrary to Rao Anwar's claim, no exchange of fire had taken place. They termed the incident a fake encounter. According to the investigators, the alleged suicide attacker Gul Saeed was first riddled by the police with bullets, then a suicide vest was wrapped around his body, and then the vest was set on fire which burned his body.[50][51]

• Aan: Men at Work (2004)
• Ab Tak Chhappan (2004) and its sequel, Ab Tak Chhappan 2 (2015), both starring Nana Patekar
• Bardaasht (2004)
• Batla House (2019), based on encounter of suspected terrorists in Delhi
• Encounter: The Killing (2003), starring Naseeruddin Shah
• Kaakha Kaakha, a 2003 Tamil film starring Surya
• Kagaar (2003)
• Khakee (2003), starring Amitabh Bachchan and Ajay Devgan
• Yuddham Sei, a 2011 Tamil film starring Cheran
• Maximum (2012), starring Sonu Sood, Naseeruddin Shah, Vinay Pathak, Mohan Agashe
• Mayanadi (2017)
• Paayum Puli (2015), a Tamil film starring Vishal
• Rege, a Marathi film (2014) starring Mahesh Manjrekar As Pradeep Sharma
• Risk (2007)
• Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007) and Shootout at Wadala (2013)
• Singham (2019 film), Singham (2011) and Singam
• Tharkappu (2016), a Tamil film starring Sakthi Vasudevan

• Sacred Games (2007), a novel by Vikram Chandra, is based on the police force in Mumbai. It includes dramatic depictions of police encounters.
• The Third Squad (2017), a novel by V. Sanjay Kumar, revolves around a Mumbai encounter policeman with Asberger's Syndrome. It includes multiple depictions of police encounters.