AUTHOR - Prachi Saraf, 1st-year student of Indore Institue of Law, currently pursuing B.A.LL.B.
INTRODUCTION
After 74 years of independence, the Indian citizens still feel sick of some things or some events that take place in our country. Every morning when we wake up we switch to a newspaper with the cup of tea or coffee and the front page is always with the news that a Gangster is killed or Gangster killed someone a girl raped or a girl is abused, a billionaire corrupted the bank and ran away with a lot of money or someone attempted suicide due to lack of money, etc and every time we read the news many questions arise in our mind that is our country's law weak or the system is weak or the people are weak or people are with a sort of distorted mentality or something else is going wrong or when we will read some good news and start our day with positive energy. July 3rd, 2020 like normal days people were in their house with their normal routine but who knew the next day will become a heavy day with morning news that" 8 officers died in an operation to arrest a desperado named Vikas Dubey" in Bikaru Village, Kanpur. The gangster was found in Ujjain Madhya Pradesh near Mahankal Mandir where it is said that he surrendered himself. The article focuses on the events of the death of Vikas Dubey, was justice served to him, and according to the proofs how was law violated in this encounter.
EVENTS
Vikas did not reach Madhya Pradesh state Straight from Haryana. He went to Rajasthan and from there he reached Ujjain by bus. He took a dip in the Kshipra river before reaching the Mahakaleshwar temple where he was eventually arrested or he surrendered. The question arises after so many police officers on work of arresting a deadly Gangster who killed 8 officers during an operation how is it possible that he was able to escape from Uttar Pradesh. It is said that he had connections with many powerful politicians and also officers sitting on the higher post who helped him in every possible way. But then the news of eight officers died in an encounter took a buzz in the country and it became mandatory for the police department to catch the Gangster and bring him in court. Somehow the Gangster Dubey reached Ujjain where he was caught by Ujjain police and on the same night he was being taken to Uttar Pradesh and on the way, the car turned and he was killed in an encounter as said by the UP Police. Eventually, we are asked to believe that a man who surrendered himself, attempted an escape after the car taking him to Uttar Pradesh overturned. This was the same man who was seen in a video being slammed against the police car and whacked on the back of his head by an unarmed officer, as he shouts "Main hi Vikas Dubey hun Kanpur Wala". Many questions came in every person's mind like why the car of Dubey was switched at last moment?, how was a dreaded Gangster not cuffed?, how was he able to make a run for it that he needed to be shot?, why was he not shot in the leg so that he could be captured alive and be interrogated?, why was it so necessary to take such a deadly gangster at the same night from Madhya Pradesh to Uttar Pradesh?. Eerily, a public interest petition in Supreme Court demanded the judiciary's intervention, predicting this is how Dubey would die. Instead of delivering justice for the eight-policeman murdered by Dubey the actions of Police Force have further sullied the reputation of their uniform. The suspicion that Dubey had far too many secrets to out and that it was best to pack them off with him to his grave, will now never be shaken off even before his death a widely shared video allegedly shot Dubey claiming the backing off to Bhartiya Janata Party legislators and also his mother separately claimed that her son is now linked to the Samajwadi Party, which the party denied.
FACTS
Since March 2017, when the incumbent government came to power in UP, more than 100 people have been killed in the course of such shootings by the police that are considered to be extrajudicial killings by the civil society organizations in India. The record of the past three years, since the incumbent chief minister took power in March 2017, exceeds all previous records. This cannot be seen as a mere failure of the criminal justice system in general and police accountability in particular. An analysis of the media reports hints at a graver causal factor. The official public responses of responsible representatives of both the government and police highlight that this is not just a case of state apathy and careless omission of prescribed rule of law, rather that these encounters are indeed a planned 'policy' of the state government.
No doubt Vikas Dubey was a deadly criminal but he had the right to go to the court once and keep his point also, Article 21 was violated in this encounter and when our constitution provides certain rights even to a criminal it is because of some reason. Any person does not have any right to violate another person's right whether a criminal. It is a fact that Vikas Dubey must be punished for his deeds but everyone would be satisfied if the process was done under the jurisdiction. This system of vigilante justice supersedes the rule of law and instead of bringing the wrongful actions of the police to judicial accountability, the criminal acts are often praised and the offenders are given promotions and celebrated as heroes. In cases where efforts are seen to be taken by various responsible stakeholders to raise public opinion, the question of which authority will conduct a fair investigation remains unresolved forever.
CONCLUSION
The debates surrounding the killing of Vikas Dubey will soon shift around various narratives of his political inclinations, criminal history, and the police's dauntless role in apprehending a criminal. However, the very pertinent questions of whether the police can kill or how the alleged dreaded criminal was never convicted or brought to justice by the law enforcement system would be brushed under the carpet. More pertinent questions, such as what was the actual sequence of events that led to the initial killing of the 8 police personnel and the reactionary action of police that followed, will remain unknown. Although an honest and unbiased investigation could reveal the actual truth, will an independent investigating agency ever set the derailed wheels of justice back on track? Who will bell the cat, or can the cat be belled at all?
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