In an interview with Outlook India (Magazine May 14, 2007) KPS Gill has pronounced that encounters should happen, if required but that they should not be staged. KPS Gill was the former Punjab Chief of Police.
His comments come in the wake of worrying reports of police corruption, the nexus between the guardians of the law and the underworld, and the involvement of dirty harry’s within the police force using fake encounters to settle private disputes. Encounters are no less than extra-judicial killings.
One cannot disagree with his view that the “criminal justice system has to be strong, quick and effective to deal with the people arrested” but his attempt to explain encounters as a symptom of disenchantment within the force resulting from the failure of the criminal justice system misses the point. The police are an important part of the criminal justice system and police corruption undermines that system and the responsibility for its failure cannot be laid solely at the feet of the judges.
His proposition that “the primary function of the judicial system is to protect society, not so much to punish criminals” should equally apply to the police. The police force exists to safeguard society.
Gill concedes that the view police should be taken to task if fake encounters were to occur but in his view mistaken identity encounters are an entirely different matter and should be a matter for the police chief to determine whether an encounter is a fake. The police cannot be entrusted to investigate such matters. One has to be naïve to expect police officers not to close ranks and a fair enquiry would be impossible to achieve especially where corruption runs deep.
His comments come in the wake of worrying reports of police corruption, the nexus between the guardians of the law and the underworld, and the involvement of dirty harry’s within the police force using fake encounters to settle private disputes. Encounters are no less than extra-judicial killings.
One cannot disagree with his view that the “criminal justice system has to be strong, quick and effective to deal with the people arrested” but his attempt to explain encounters as a symptom of disenchantment within the force resulting from the failure of the criminal justice system misses the point. The police are an important part of the criminal justice system and police corruption undermines that system and the responsibility for its failure cannot be laid solely at the feet of the judges.
His proposition that “the primary function of the judicial system is to protect society, not so much to punish criminals” should equally apply to the police. The police force exists to safeguard society.
Gill concedes that the view police should be taken to task if fake encounters were to occur but in his view mistaken identity encounters are an entirely different matter and should be a matter for the police chief to determine whether an encounter is a fake. The police cannot be entrusted to investigate such matters. One has to be naïve to expect police officers not to close ranks and a fair enquiry would be impossible to achieve especially where corruption runs deep.
Extra-judicial killings are anathema to a civilised society. There can be situations in which the police would be required to act in self defence but it would be unwise to allow senior police officers to determine questions about good faith.
No comments:
Post a Comment