The growing wide variety of extrajudicial killings in India is atrocious. The most important shape is the encounters through police, military, or different protection forces which challenge the Rule of Law in a civilized society. Extrajudicial killings take place illegally. It is a gross human rights violation. The current notorious encounters of Vikas Dubey in Uttar Pradesh and the stumble upon of four accused withinside the Hyderabad gang rape case in 2019 in India placed excessive indignation over the functioning of police and the legitimacy of using pressure. The Supreme Court of India has informed the installation of an inquiry for each case. This Academic article`s objective is to investigate the existing extrajudicial killings in India. What is their validity? Is encounter killing an offense? When an alleged accused or suspect is killed before judicial pronouncements or before any decision by the judicial authority, it is known as extrajudicial killing. But the killing is justified under the following circumstances.-
. 1. If death is caused in the exercise of the right of private defense i.e., under section 96 of IPC;
2, if it is necessary to arrest the person accused of an offense punishable with death or imprisonment for life i.e., under section 46of CRPC which authorizes the police to use force, extending up to the causing of death, as the case may be. Extrajudicial killings are not justified as they are illegal, moreover authorities misuse their powers and may kill even an innocent person too. These killings are not judicially tenable. Extra-judicial killings, in a country like India, are not constitutionally valid. The Constitution ensures every citizen's Right to life and liberty below Article 21 which may be taken away by the Rule of Law. Here are a few reasons for the extrajudicial killings
1, Work Pressure: Day by day as crimes are growing within the society. Police in India want to do vital responsibilities and address several complex conditions which include Riots, Unrest in public, corruption, and different conditions which affect Law and order. As quickly as a criminal offense 2 is registered police have to begin the fast investigation. This ends in brutal behavior with the aid of using force on criminals for getting their confessions, which unfortunately leads to custodial violence
2. Greed for Money. At Police stations, many Policemen use brutality and torture the suspects. The courts provide extra significance to the FIR and the problem withinside the FIR registration virtually relies upon the policeman on responsibility whilst the FIR became registered. Sometimes they also get money from victims' families for encounters.
3. Punitive Violence: There aren't many law enforcement officials who trust in now no longer letting the crook pull off wrongdoing. It is honestly generic with the aid of using them that other than a legitimate beating, there's no different technique of controlling offenders
4. Easy way; Encounters give the police an easy way out, to create an illusion of law-and-order maintenance in the eyes of the public. They also create scope for callousness. Why grind and struggle to secure evidence and investigate when everything can be solved by just one bullet. It is the responsibility of the police, to follow the Constitutional principles and uphold the Right to Life of every individual whether an innocent one or a criminal, but alas the data and the present scenario also depicts the sorry state of affairs. Increasing Rate of Fake EncountersThe National Human Rights Commission of India (hereinafter referred to as NHRC) registered a total of 1782 fake encounters cases between the years 2000 and 2017. The state of Uttar Pradesh accounted for the highest number of fake encounter cases, almost 45.55% of the total cases registered and at least 122 alleged criminals were killed in more than 6,000 encounters1 between March 2017 to June 2020 in the State.
NHRC GUIDELINES –
"A. When the police officer-in-charge of a police station gets facts about the deaths in an encounter among the police party and others, he shall input that data in the right register .
B. The information as acquired will be seemed as enough to suspect the commission of a cognizable offense and instant steps must be taken to investigate the facts and situations leading to death to examine what, if any, offense became committed and by whom.
C. As the cops belonging to the same police station are the individuals of the come across party, it's far suitable that the cases are made over for investigation to a few different unbiased police authorities.
D. Question of granting of reimbursement to the dependents of the deceased can be taken into consideration in instances ending in a conviction if police officers are prosecuted on the idea of the results of the investigation.”
E. If police personnel is found guilty of excessive force being used, liability will be imposed under section 299 of IPC.
F. A magisterial inquiry must be held in all cases of death which occurs in the course of police action, within 3 months).
G. All cases of deaths in police action in the states shall be preliminarily reported to the Commission by the Senior Superintendent of Police within 48 hours of such death in Police Encounters.
Supreme Court of India in PUCL (people`s union of civil liberties) VS State of Maharashtra had issued the following Guidelines in the matters of investigating police encounters. The Supreme Court then laid down recommendations for thorough, effective, and impartial research withinside the instances of loss of life all through police encounters:
Record Tip-off: Whenever the police get any intelligence or tip-off concerning criminal activities, it ought to be recorded both in writing or digital form. Register FIR: If in pursuance to a tip-off, the police make use of firearms and which causes loss of life of a person, then an FIR initiating right after criminal investigation
Independent Probe: Investigation into such loss of life ought to be accomplished with the aid of using an impartial CID 4 group or a police team of any other police station beneath the supervision of a senior officer. It has to fulfill 8 minimal research necessities like identifying the victim, recovering and keeping evidentiary material, investigating a crime scene and recording statements of witnesses, etc .
Magisterial Probe: Mandatory magisterial inquiry into all instances of encounter deaths ought to be held .
Inform NHRC: The NHRC or State Human Rights Commission ought to be straight away informed of the encounter death. Medical Aid: It ought to be provided to the injured victim/criminal and a Magistrate or Medical Officer ought to report his statement together with the Certificate of Fitness.
No Delay: Ensure forwarding FIR, panchnamas, sketch, and police diary entries to the involved Court without any delay. Send Report to Court: After a complete investigation into the incident, a report ought to be dispatched to the competent Court making sure expeditious trial. Inform Kin: In the case of loss of life of the accused criminal, their subsequent relatives ought to be informed on the earliest
. Submit Report: Bi-annual statements of all encounter killings ought to be dispatched to the NHRC Prompt Action: Amounting to an offense beneath the IPC, disciplinary motion ought to be initiated in opposition to the police officer determined responsible of wrongful stumble upon and in the interim that officer ought to be suspended.
Compensation: The compensation scheme as defined in Section 357-A of the CrPC ought to be implemented for granting reimbursement to the dependants of the sufferer .
Surrendering Weapons: The involved police officer(s) ought to give up their guns for forensic and ballistic analysis, subject to the rights mentioned below Article 20 of the Constitution . Legal Aid to Officer: An intimation of the incident ought to be dispatched to the accused police officer’s circle of relatives, providing aid of lawyer/counselor.
Grievance Redressal: If the family of the sufferer finds that the above process has now no longer been observed, then it could make a complaint to the Sessions Judge having territorial jurisdiction over the region of an incident. The involved Sessions Judge ought to look at the merits of the grievance and deal with the grievances raised therein. The Court directed that those necessities/norms ought to be strictly determined in all instances of loss of life and grievous hurt in police encounters, treating them as law Article 141 of the Indian Constitution.
CONCLUSION Encounter killings must be investigated independently as they affect the credibility of rule of law. There is a need for overhauling the entire criminal justice system so that fake encounters and custodial death rates could be reduced. Guidelines given by the Human rights Commission and the Supreme Court must be followed. Rule of Law must prevail over police Impunity
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