No democratic society can allow an individual, let alone one from an institution that is deployed to protect life, to take the law into his own hands. An inviolable respect for the due course of the law is what makes these institutions strong.
The very security agencies whose sole purpose is to protect life seem hell bent on taking it away, providing quick, on the spot “justice.” A state of affairs worse than vigilante justice. One hoped that they might have learned a lesson or two after the Kharotabad and Boat Basin incidents, but nary a progress. The Punjab Police has again displayed its disdain for the law, something it was notorious for in the last tenure of the current CM. Another youth was murdered in a staged encounter only an hour after he was apprehended. A welcome difference, though, was the inquiry into the incident which found four police officers guilty, including a DSP.
The incumbent IG Punjab’s orders of “offensive policing” are of a dubious nature. Our police is neither equipped enough nor manned enough to handle the law and order situation; orders like these are always liable to be misinterpreted. Extra-judicial killings, or “encounters” as the police itself is fond of calling them, do make short their work but it does entail complications of law, ethics and human rights.
Violence begets violence. What our security agencies need to keep in mind is that a uniform, khaki or not, does not give them a license to flaunt the law of the land. As long as an internal investigation and accountability mechanism is missing, such flagrant violations are sure to follow. Instead of giving the police a free hand with ambiguous orders, a more careful strategy should be adopted lest the culture of police encounters pays a return visit. Violence must not be encountered with violence if justice is to prevail.
