INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR LEGAL RESEARCH & ANALYSIS (ISSN 2582 – 6433) VOLUME I ISSUE X (FEBRUARY 2021) Email – [email protected] Website – www.ijlra.com 56565656565651 www.ijlra.com Volume I Issue X| February 2021 ISSN: 2582-6433 DISCLAIMER No part of this publication may be reproduced or copied in any form by any means without prior written permission of Managing Editor of IJLRA. The views expressed in this publication are purely personal opinions of the authors and do not reflect the views of the Editorial Team of IJLRA. Though every effort has been made to ensure that the information in Volume I Issue X is accurate and appropriately cited/referenced, neither the Editorial Board nor IJLRA shall be held liable or responsible in any manner whatsever for any consequences for any action taken by anyone on the basis of information in the Journal. Copyright © International Journal for Legal Research & Analysis 1 www.ijlra.com Volume I Issue X| February 2021 ISSN: 2582-6433 EDITORIAL TEAM EDITORS Ms. Ezhiloviya S.P. Nalsar Passout Ms. Priya Singh West Bengal National University of Juridical Science Mr. Ritesh Kumar Nalsar Passout Mrs. Pooja Kothari Practicing Advocate Dr. Shweta Dhand Assistant Professor 2 www.ijlra.com Volume I Issue X| February 2021 ISSN: 2582-6433 ABOUT US INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR LEGAL RESEARCH & ANLAYSIS ISSN 2582-6433 is an Online Journal is Quarterly, Peer Review, Academic Journal, Published online, that seeks to provide an interactive platform for the publication of Short Articles, Long Articles, Book Review, Case Comments, Research Papers, Essay in the field of Law & Multidisciplinary issue. Our aim is to upgrade the level of interaction and discourse about contemporary issues of law. We are eager to become a highly cited academic publication, through quality contributions from students, academics, professionals from the industry, the bar and the bench. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR LEGAL RESEARCH & ANALYSIS ISSN 2582-6433 welcomes contributions from all legal branches, as long as the work is original, unpublished and is in consonance with the submission guidelines. 3 www.ijlra.com Volume I Issue X| February 2021 ISSN: 2582-6433 “Image of Police in light of Extra Judicial Killings: Disregard of Human Rights” Author 1 Author 2 Name: Arjit Pandey Name: Akanksha Surana Designation: Ph.D. Scholar Designation: Ph.D. Scholar Institute of Law- Nirma University, Institute of Law- Nirma University, Ahmedabad Ahmedabad Email ID: [email protected] Email ID: [email protected] 4 www.ijlra.com Volume I Issue X| February 2021 ISSN: 2582-6433 Image of Police in light of Extra Judicial Killings: Disregard of Human Rights Abstract Issues of Extra Judicial Killings or Fake Encounters are at peak these days. Police whose essential role is to serve the society, remains in limelight for all the wrong reasons. Indulging in committing Fake Encounters by the police officers causes violation of basic Human Rights of an individual. This research paper deals with instances of Extra Judicial Killings committed by the police personnel and attempts to address the causes of the same. The research further highlights the legal framework of such encounters and the role, Judiciary has played in curbing this issue. Lastly, this research paper mentions the impact of such killings on the society and suggestive measures which can be taken to tackle this menace in order to provide justice to the society. Keywords: Extra Judicial Killings, Fake Encounters, Human Rights, Judiciary. Introduction Police is considered to be an institution whose role is to maintain law and order in the society. Police as an institution has been granted with various essential functions to be performed which includes reducing of crime and disorder in the society, reducing of fear of crime, resolving disputes, safeguarding individual rights etc. Most tragic thing is that whatever role is given to police by the society is certainly not performed by them. Indian Police are believed to be indulged in corrupt and illegal practices causing distrust among the public for police. Indian Policemen are even considered as incompetent and extremely negligent in performing their duties towards the society. Unfortunately, Police who is given the role of safeguarding the citizens and rights of such citizens are unable to fulfil their duties, they have: failed to investigate matters, arrested people arbitrarily, detained illegally, tortured people in their custody, raped women & children and have blatantly performed extra judicial killings. Encounter killing or police encounter is a term which refers to killing by policemen in self-defense, when they encounter thieves or gangsters or a law breaker. Encounters are always considered as a preventive measure by the government and police to sabotage crimes like terrorism or dacoity or murder. With increasing crime rate in the society, the number of encounters have increased too but it is disheartening that with increasing 5 www.ijlra.com Volume I Issue X| February 2021 ISSN: 2582-6433 encounters, there has been increase in ‘Fake Encounters’. Indian Police nowadays indulge more and more in fake encounter practices leading to losing away of faith of society in the police. According to a report of National Human Rights Commission, there were 201 cases of fake encounter in state of Uttar Pradesh in 2007 and it was the highest number than any state of India. Again, a report was submitted by NHRC (from 2009- 10 to 2013), according to which the maximum number of fake encounter cases were registered in Uttar Pradesh.* Though there are so many real encounters done by the police but these get overshadowed by the fake encounter cases. Instances of Contentious Encounters In past two decades, there are so many fake encounters which were headlines of the newspapers and news channels. Instances of such fake encounters are: Case of Ishrat Jahan and three other men who were killed near Ahmedabad, Gujarat in year 2004. It was suspicion that all of them were terrorists, who were determined to kill the then CM Narendra Modi. Later on, it was reported that all four alleged were abducted by the policemen and were shot by them, making it a case of fake encounter.† Case of Harpal Singh in which it was claimed by the policemen of Punjab that two youth did open firing on the cops and thus were gunned down. Later on, in report of CBI, it was revealed that Harpal was taken away from his house, was kept illegally, tortured and shot dead. Under CBI report, it was revealed that it was a case of fake encounter.‡ Salim encounter case of Uttar Pradesh, in which Salim was charged under the offence of extortion, was eventually killed in a fake encounter. It was a shameful act by policemen of Uttar Pradesh that for such petty offences, a person was killed illegally.§ * Naureen Shah, Dysfunction, Abuse and Impunity in the Indian Police, Human Rights Watch (Aug. 2009) https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/india0809web.pdf (Retrieved on April. 23, 2020). † Aftermath of Ishrat Jahan Case: Fake Encounters a blot on Society, Hindustan Times (Mar. 3, 2016) https://www.hindustantimes.com/editorials/aftermath-of-ishrat-jahan-case-fake-encounters-a-blot-on- society/story-K5pcXeFSH2gfLK5xsYHMKI.html (Retrieved on April. 24, 2020). ‡ Harmandeep Singh, 2 Punjab Cops get life term for 1992 Fake Encounter, Times of India (Sep. 27, 2018) https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/2-punjab-cops-get-life-term-for-1992-fake- encounter/articleshow/65974105.cms (Retrieved on April. 23, 2020). § UN Rights Body 'Extremely Concerned' About Fake Encounters in Yogi Adityanath's UP, THE WIRE, (Jan. 12, 2019) https://thewire.in/rights/uttar-pradesh-yogi-adityanath-fake-encounters-un (Retrieved on April. 23, 2020). 6 www.ijlra.com Volume I Issue X| February 2021 ISSN: 2582-6433 Tulsiram Prajapati case, in which Tulsiram was killed in the police custody as he was the only witness to the Sohrabuddin killing. Tulsiram’s death is also an example of fake encounters.** Ramnaryan Gupta or Lakhan Bhaiyya case, he was alleged to be aide of Chota Rajan (underworld don). He was picked up by the police in Mumbai and later on killed on the same day. It was considered to be fake encounter case as under an inquiry, 22 policemen were believed to be involved in the foul play.†† Sadiq Jamal case, Sadiq was an auto rickshaw driver who was killed in year 2003 by Ahmedabad police. The policemen claimed that he was planning to kill the then CM Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders. In CBI report, it was revealed that Sadiq was killed by the police in fake encounter, in the same way as Ishrat Jahan was killed illegally.‡‡ Vikar Ahmed or Vikaruddin case, in which Vikar Ahmed was an activist of religious organization but police claimed that he was a hard core criminal and thus was arrested in year 2010. In 2015, Vikaruddin along with four other was killed by the policemen. Policemen claimed that all four along with Vikar tried to attack the police men using the weapons. It was later on shown through evidence that despite the attack onto the police, none of them (police personnel) were injured, making it a fake encounter case.§§ Under Yogi Adityanath’s government, 1038 encounters were conducted and no one had any lawful reason of conducting the same. United Nations official had questioned upon the conduct of security forces in such arbitrary manner.*** ** Fake encounters: A blot on Indian Democracy, Zee News (Jul. 12, 2013) https://zeenews.india.com/exclusive/fake-encounters-a-blot-on-indian-democracy_6498.html (Retrieved on April. 20, 2020). †† Lakhan Bhaiya Killing- 21 sentenced to Life Imprisonment, THE HINDU (June 04, 2016), https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/lakhan-bhaiya-killing-21-sentenced-to-life- imprisonment/article4908664.ece ((Retrieved on April.