HE hit me first, so I hit him back. This is the common excuse the school bully trots out when caught hitting a classmate. It is, after all, an act of self defence. Law does not mean anyone should be a coward. If someone slaps you, you may retaliate with a slap and not turn the other cheek. The Gandhian adage is fine in theory, but in the big bad world, things work differently.
The police executioner says much the same thing when he carries out an extra-judicial killing, which is nowadays called an “encounter”. A horrible euphemism. The dead man fired the shot first, no one in the police party was hit, but the police returned the fire and the man died. Or the dead man tried to escape from custody, so had to be killed. Such killings have not stopped, perhaps never will, because the system allows them, even sanctions them, and the law never punishes the killers. The dead man is picked up from home, thrashed at some unknown detention centre to extract a confession and shot because he was of no further utility as an informer. Then an “encounter” is stage-managed. This is just an illustration, but sadly police encounters carry the sanction of law and sometimes the system actually rewards the executioners, depending upon the dead man’s category as an ultra, a militant or a terrorist or all of the three or the dead man’s underground military rank such as major, colonel or general.
Denne historien er fra December 27, 2021-utgaven av India Legal.
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Denne historien er fra December 27, 2021-utgaven av India Legal.
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PIL, Difficult To Swallow?
In a recent ruling, the Bombay High Court lamented the increasing number of frivolous public interest litigations being filed in courts and echoed the sentiments of the Supreme Court that such litigations are the bane of the judicial system. Is there any way to restrict their misuse?
Till Infertility Do Us Part...
The Calcutta High Court slammed a husband for initiating divorce proceedings due to his wife's infertility and asked him to be a pillar of support for her. Courts have often taken an empathetic view in such matters
IS THAT LEGAL?
Ignorance of law is no excuse. Here are answers to frequently asked queries regarding matters that affect us on a day-to-day basis
The Big Lie
In America, The Big Lie is an idiom used by Donald Trump's opponents and the media to describe his constant gripe about election fraud. Now, it seems more suited to another Republican, Congressman George Santos (right), who has been facing growing calls to resign after he admitted fabricating parts of his resume and biography since his election in New York last year.
Flying into the Sunset
Over 50 years since the first and original jumbo jet, the Boeing 747, took to the skies and revolutionized air travel, the last of the legendary aircraft (right) was delivered to a freight charter company, bringing down the curtain on one of aviation's most successful products.
Star Crossed
Actor and producer Alec Baldwin is a Hollywood legend, having starred in a range of movies, award winning TV sitcoms, and theatre. He was most recently seen in Mission Impossible Fallout, which is an apt description of his current situation.
Walkouts in the UK
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Myanmar's Misery
Two years after the military coup ousted the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the brutal crackdown by the junta on so-called \"insurgents\" and civilian protesters has reached a new level with the use of air strikes, a new and deadly tactic in the ongoing civil war.
AMERICA'S ANGST
From messy, divisive politics to a series of mass shootings, and now black officers brutally beating another black man to death as seen in bodycam videos, America's domestic convulsions are cause for serious introspection
JUSTICE LEAGUE
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