- Encounter killings
Encounter killings is a euphemism used in
India andPakistan to describeextrajudicial killings in whichPolice shoot downgangster s andterrorist s in alleged gunbattles. Encounter killings were common inMumbai , India, during the 1990s till mid 2000s and some of the Police officres involved came to be known as 'Encounter Specialists'. The Mumbai police resorted to encounter killings as they believed that these killings delivered speedyjustice . Encounter killings severely crippled the Underworld in Mumbai and busted theextortion racket which was rampant at that time. Encounter killings, together with torture by police in lock-ups and custodial deaths have irkedhuman rights activist s. [C R Sridhar. [http://desicritics.org/2006/10/11/125322.php Sunshine India: Encounter Killings, Torture and Custodial Deaths] . October 11, 2006.]Former
Sub-Inspector Pradeep Sharma is India's most successful encounter specialist, who has shot-dead 104 gangsters and dacoits in. "Criminals are filth and I'm the cleaner" is one of his famous lines. [Alex Perry. [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,404315,00.html Urban Cowboys] . TIME Magazine. Jan. 06, 2003.]Some of the well known encounter specialists (with encounter killing count in brackets) include
*Sub-Inspector Pradeep Sharma - 104 [http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/jun/03mum.htm Encounter man Pradip Sharma completes 'century'] ]
*Sub-Inspector Daya Nayak - 82
*Inspector Praful Bhosale - 77
* Assistant Sub-Inspector(ASI) Ravindra Angre - 51
*Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Sachin Hindurao Vaze ,- 48 [ [http://www.indiatoday.com/webexclusive/dispatch/20040705/web.html Fallen Heroes] . India Today.]
*Head Constable Vijay Salaskar - 40.
*Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma - 75All of the above listed Officers served with
Mumbai Police andDelhi Police In popular culture
Many Indian films have been made depicting Police encounters in
Bollywood andSouth Indian Cinema. The most recent blockbusters are Risk andShootout at Lokhandwala . Other famous films includeAb Tak Chhappan starringNana Patekar , starringNaseeruddin Shah and the 2003 Tamil film,Kaakha Kaakha .References
Links
*
Crime in Mumbai External links
* Interview with Mumbai Police Joint Commissioner [http://www.rediff.com/news/2000/aug/25inter.htm]
* Reduced to Ashes: A Report on Disappearances and Encounters in Punjab [http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Religion-communalism/2003/punjab-disappearances.htm]
* India: Extrajudicial Killings under the spotlight [http://www.hrdc.net/sahrdc/hrfeatures/HRF71.htm]
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