For Whom Should Law Work?

The usual suspects and also some unusual opponents of police action against Vikas Dubey have spoken up. Whenever a police encounter takes place, the entire argument begins with an assumption that the encounter is ‘staged’. In fact, even the Batla House encounter in which a brave police officer lost his life was called ‘staged’ by the Congress government who was ruling at that time. The uncrowned queen of the ruling party is said to have cried the whole night. A highly respected TV panelist, known for his generally pro-Modi and pro-BJP stance has gone on to compare the history-sheeter don Vikas Dubey with an accused, with no history of any crime, of the false rape case of Kathua. But I would rather begin by believing the law enforces than the lawbreakers.

To jog up people’s memory, Police commissioner Y C Pawar was the first one to use the encounter as the legitimate police strategy to finish of Varadarajan Mudaliar gang in the 1980s. It was the current favorite of civil liberties, left, secular groups Mr. Julio Ribeiro who relieved Mumbai of the terror of extortionist gangsters, using encounter as a weapon of choice. It was a time when anybody wishing to purchase or sell properties lived in dread of a call at night. We all know who controlled the Mumbai cinema world for decades. Only Gulshan Kumar stood up against it and paid a heavy price. His killer jumped the bail and was rearrested after 22 years!

No elite citizen spoke against Ribeiro or Pawar or later commissioners. Even the current Commissioner of Police Mr. Parambir Singh is known for his encounter specialist group. Why? Because it is very difficult to get a conviction against the gangsters and they ultimately walk free. I don’t need to go more into it as we all know how the famous gangsters lived it up.

The critics cry about Pappu Dubeys and Raja Bhaiyya but they roam freely as politicians. Maybe Vikas Dubey too would have become a famed politician and then the same crowd would have called for strict action.

We have a judicial system where criminals get bails and don’t go to jail for 20-25 years, witnesses die or disappear and then they go free. We have fast track justice redressal for rape that takes nearly 8 years to come to closure with families spending all their lives savings. A supposed juvenile rapist of the gang receives a sewing machine from the Chief Minister who was crying for justice. In such a scenario how does common citizen react?

Just to remind people, between the year 2000-2008 highest encounters took place in UP, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh. In nearly all the states the governments belonged mostly to the current opposition parties.

Remember the famous gun runner Shahabuddin, and darling of the secular liberal crowd - Ishrat Jahan, whom terror groups owned up but our own people claimed they were killed falsely? We have lawyers who tutored witnesses to implicate the current PM in Gujarat riots but got bail within hours of an arrest warrant from High Court.

In Punjab, till KPS Gill came on the scene, the police were totally demoralized and lived in fear as their families were targeted and they were targeted. No flag bearers of liberties stood by them, nor did they rush to Punjab to persuade terrorists to drop guns. But, when police turned around under Mr. Gill and finally got the better of terrorists, what happened? The vultures of human rights descended on Punjab. While we citizens enjoyed peace in Punjab, the poor police were humiliated with 100s of criminal cases of human rights violations and fake encounters. Some committed suicide, including A S Sandhu, twice President medal winner, committed suicide due to multiple cases against him for human rights violation. Did anyone mourn? Did anyone come forward to support the police who saved the state from worst-ever terror? No, but there were articles that defamed those braves.

Kashmir Valley is too fresh to recount how forces have been hounded. How a Major was harassed insistently till he was quietly posted to some corner of India. His fault, he saved his men from marauding anti-Indian crowds instigated by terrorists and Pakistan.

Do only lawbreakers have civil rights? Do ordinary citizens and protectors of law have no human rights? When we come out hounding police forces, remember, we wish them to protect us from goons, criminals, and terrorists with their one hand tied behind their back. It is possible there are excesses. But, let us not start with an assumption that all encounters are fake and put undue pressure on police which is working under huge constraints anyways.