The Dharma of Instant Karma

Never confined to ‘disturbed areas’ alone, excesses are becoming increasingly normal in every sphere of policing.

- Ushinor Majumdar

Once every few months, tribal women from Sarkeguda village in chhattisgarh’s deep interiors walk the 52-km road to Bijapur town and then take a rickety bus ride to Jagdalpur—Bastar’s district headquarters—in pursuit of the law. They are seeking justice for the killing of 17 villagers, including seven children, on the intervening night of June 28-29, 2012, by security forces, who fired upon villagers, allegedly mistaking a gathering (where preparations for an upcoming festival) were being discussed to be a meeting of Maoists. The multiple journeys to Jagdalpur bring the villagers face to face with the security personnel they testified against, and the stares they get from them and other policemen, for obvious reasons, are anything but friendly.

The Sarkeguda killings had triggered public debate on fake encounters in conflict-torn regions. And when news of the killing of eight under trial prisoners from Bhopal central jail on October 31 rekindled that debate, the focus was on Muslim identity and outlawed SIMI connections. 

‘Fake encounters’ or extra-judicial killings by policemen are a recurring phenomenon that allows questions to be raised on the legal accountability of law-enforcement agencies—although when there’s a context of “national security”, raising those questions becomes difficult and politically charged. It is hard to forget the image of Manipuri women protesting bare-bodied following the extra-judicial killing of Thangjam Manorama, alleged member of the PLA, an outlawed Manipuri insurgent group. The focus that time was AFSPA—the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, which is often criticised for having enabled impunity in cases of excesses during counterinsurgency operations.