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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Cops behind fake encounters should be hanged, says SC

Cops behind fake encounters should be hanged, says SC

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published Published on Aug 8, 2011   modified Modified on Aug 8, 2011
-The Times of India
 
The Supreme Court on Monday said those responsible for fake encounters should be given the death sentence and hanged in what marks a significant toughening of stand against extra-judicial killings by trigger happy cops.

"Fake encounter killings by cops are nothing but cold-blooded brutal murder which should be treated as the rarest of rare offence and police personnel responsible for it should be awarded death sentence. They should be hanged," Justice Markandey Katju observed while hearing the fake encounter case of an alleged gangster by Rajasthan Police on October 23, 2006.

"If crimes are committed by ordinary people, ordinary punishment should be given but if the offence is committed by policemen, much harsher punishment should be given to them because they do an act totally contrary to their duties," Justice Katju added.

The court made the observations while ordering the CBI to arrest within a month six absconding Rajasthan cops, including additional director-general of police A K Jain and additional superintendent of police Arshad Ali, in the Dara Singh fake encounter case.

This is the second time that Justice Katju had outlined the apex court's zero tolerance approach towards fake encounters: something that may spark a wrenching debate in a country where there is frustration over the way criminals, including terrorists, manipulate the protracted and corrupt process of administration of justice to escape punishment, but also wariness about the propensity of police to use encounter not just as a short cut but also to eliminate inconvenient innocents.

On Monday, the bench of Justices Katju and C K Prasad was furious with a magistrate's April 11 order for registration of a fresh FIR on an application when CBI had already investigated the case and said it was meant "to scuttle the proceedings against the accused persons".

The CBI had named 14 policemen and two private individuals in the chargesheet filed in the case. The encounter by Rajasthan Police's Special Operations Group took place on October 23, 2006. The police had claimed that Dara Singh was shot when he was fleeing from custody.

Acting on a petition by his widow Sushila that her husband was killed in cold blood, the SC had ordered a CBI probe into the case.

Referring to the six absconding policemen, the bench said, "We are surprised that they have not yet been arrested. We direct that no stone be left unturned in arresting these absconding accused persons. Law is above all howsoever high they may be. The CBI is directed to arrest the absconding accused persons within one month from today."

Times View

We have always maintained the death penalty has no place in a modern, civilized society. We can't, therefore, support the Supreme Court's suggestion that cases of fake encounters should merit the death penalty. But we are entirely in agreement with the principle that when those tasked with enforcing the law themselves break it, they must be dealt with more severely than ordinary citizens. This is necessary if the notion of rule of law is to be given the respect it deserves but often does not get. The principle is even more important where the crime is murder. Hence, fake encounter cases do demerit sentences of the utmost severity, short of capital punishment.

The Times of India, 9 August, 2011, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Cops-behind-fake-encounters-should-be-hanged-says-SC/articleshow/9531685.cms


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