Page 49 - Tehelka Issue 14E

OPINION
ENCOUNTERS

Killings by the state

murdering democracy

Today, authorities use encounter killings to liquidate any rival
DILEMMAS coming in the way. Victims could range from political opponents

to those who are not part of very nexus controlling the system
HUMRA
QURAISHI
hat are encounter rivals and opponents, but the actual
killings? What culprit cops have not ever publicly spat
The Delhi-based writer are the so-called out against the political might, at whose
and columnist’s books encounter special- commands and orders these encoun-
include Kashmir: The ists up to? What is ters are undertaken. With this in the
Untold Story. She co- W the role of the State background or foreground, I was more
authored a series of in killing its own citizens? What is the than surprised to read cop RB Sree-
writings with the late State trying to achieve, bypassing the kumar’s volume — Gujarat :Behind The
Khushwant Singh and traditional ways to settle crime and Curtain — (English edition published by
her short stories are the so labelled criminals? What havoc Manas, and its Hindi, Urdu, Gujrati edi-
part of anthologies. is this new form of State terror tactics tions published by Pharos Media) where
The views expressed heaping on masses of the country, who this whistle-blower top cop of the
are her own are anyway surviving amidst tough and Gujarat cadre writes rather too candidly
challenging circumstances? about the nexus that works between the very close quarters. By this reason- According to a • Picking holes Former Gujarat IPS officer
Till about few years ago, the term en- partners in crime — cops, the politician ing, I am of the firm opinion that the DG Vanzara’s counsel has picked holes in
counter killings seemed reserved only and the bureaucracy. place of this government, instead of petition, over the CBI’s theory linked to the encounters of
for those living in the so -called conflict Space constraints come in way of being in Gandhinagar, should either 1,100 encounters Ishrat Jahan and others
zones of the country or for those fitted my detailing the alleged proximity of be in Taloja Central Prison at Navi
in the underworld, but today the State the former encounter-specialist of Mumbai or in the Sabarmati Central took place last a blow on all possible fronts; emo-
seems to have adopted this strategy to Gujarat, DG Vanzara, with the top politi- Jail in Ahmedabad.’” year, wherein tionally, socially, financially. Ever
liquidate just about any rival coming in cal brass of the Gujarat … Perhaps, DG Have we ever paused to think since Ishrat was murdered, we have
its way. Victims could range from politi- Vanzara’s resignation letter published on what happens to the families of 49 people were just kept to ourselves and seldom
cal opponents to personal enemies to in Kumar’s volume speaks volumes , those killed or captured or injured killed and 370 move out, we have become wary of
those who are not part and parcel of the “DIG DG Vanzara, jailed since April 2007 in the various encounters. They stepping out and meeting even the
very nexus controlling the very system. for the alleged guilt of committing fake are ruined on any given front, with were injured. The neighbourhood people. Our studies
I have been going through the long encounters ,in his resignation letter social and economic offshoots got disrupted. It was difficult to even
list of recent encounters and also of to the government of Gujarat, dated hitting them to such an extent that encounters killed survive, forget about books and
those lying dead or injured or captured September 1, 2013, captioned — ‘Tender- they find basic surviving to be near 45 between Jan 1, studies. I sat blank, in a trance-like
in those targeted killings. The largest ing of resignation from my service with impossible. Of late, I have been condition. I gave up studies, stopped
number of encounters have been re- renunciation of all post- retirement reading news reports, where hap- 2017, and March going out, and didn’t meet even any
ported from the State of Uttar Pradesh benefits’ wrote ‘Gujarat CID / Union less families of those killed in the 31, 2018 of our relatives. Even financially our
in the last one year. Quoting these CBI had arrested me and my officers in Uttar Pradesh encounters have said situation worsened. After our father
figures from the PUCL’s very recent different encounter cases, holding us to that their men have been framed had died in 2002 because of brain
findings on encounters taking place be responsible for carrying out alleged and done away with, and they have tumour, the entire responsibility of
in Uttar Pradesh: Since March 2017, 49 fake encounters, if that is true then the little means and nil resources to Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar the family fell on the eldest of the
people have been killed in over 1,100 CBI investigating officers of all the four seek justice. They have little choice in Gujarat, by the officers of the seven sibling, Ishrat Jahan. She had
encounters. More than 370 have been encounter cases of Sohrabuddin, Tulsi but to carry on with the tainted im- Ahmedabad Police Crime Branch begun taking up part- time jobs and
injured and over 3,300 arrested across Ram, Sadiq Jamal and Ishrat Jahan have age inflicted on them. led by DG Vanzara, I had inter- tuitions together with her college
the state. to arrest the policy formulators also, as This brings me to write that viewed her mother, Shamima level studies, to keep the home fires
And though activists have been cry- we, being field officers have simply im- few years after 19-year-old stu- Begum, and also her younger sister, burning. But with her killing we
ing hoarse, labelling a majority of these plemented the conscious policy of this dent Ishrat Jahan’s killing in that Musarrat Jahan. It gets difficult to are ruined … toot se gai hain … we
encounters to be fake and undertaken government, which was inspiring, guid- much-hyped encounter, on an describe the trauma they were fac- want justice for my sister. After all,
by vested political interests to eliminate ing and monitoring our actions from empty stretch of road between ing. To quote Musarrat, “It was such that encounter in which my sister

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