The truth behind mafia encounters and police justice

One of the major issues in the Bihar Assembly elections is protecting the state from what is often described as ‘jungle raj”—the collusion between power and the criminal mafia. It is well-documented that during Lalu Yadav’s rule, the nexus between politicians and criminals deepened, as numerous credible reports and books revealed. As a newspaper editor during that period, I personally witnessed many such incidents and reported on them extensively in newspapers and weekly magazines.

- ALOK MEHTA NEW DELHI

Today, when discussions about a crime-free governance model arise, comparisons are often made with the strict decisions and police actions taken in Uttar Pradesh under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and at the Centre under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. Questions, however, continue to surface regarding police “encounters” — should criminals be eliminated by bullets instead of facing the court of law? Are caste or communal biases influencing such actions? And have the courts in recent years delivered strong sentences to hardened criminals?

I found revealing answers to these questions in journalist and filmmaker Aniruddha Mitra’s new book The Enforcer, based on the career of Uttar Pradesh's former Director General of Police, Prashant Kumar, known as an “encounter expert.” Kumar's journey—from his early service days to leading the state police force—offers insight into the complexities of maintaining law and order in one of India’s most volatile states.