Punjab encounters sound alarm bells, point to dangerous slide

Thirty-four encounters in three months, a third of them in police custody. Those figures tell a grim story in Punjab. It is a state beset by spectres of narco-terrorism fuelled by drugs smuggled across the border and the rise of transnational gangs that signal a possible nexus between gangsters and the separatist fringe. It is also a state where the shadows cast by the decade lost to militancy are yet to fade. In recent times, a spate of extortions and targeted shootings have reinforced the sense of a creeping lawlessness. Against this backdrop, the alarming frequency of police encounters — and the short-circuiting of due process by a trigger-happy force that they represent — adds to the many challenges in Punjab.

The Aam Aadmi Party, whose political footprint has shrunk to Punjab, confronts persistent charges on the law-and-order front. The judiciary, too, has signalled its disquiet. Two months ago, a division bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court took serious note of the murder of a kabaddi player in full public glare and directed the DGP to explain why adequate security arrangements were not made at the stadium. More recently, the court highlighted the chilling spectacle of an NDPS Act-accused being gunned down outside the office of the Senior Superintendent of Police in Mohali. The anti-drug campaign, Yudh Nasheyan Virudh, has yet to yield notable results; the offensive against organised crime, Gangsteraan Te Vaar, remains inconclusive.

The AAP government swept to power in Punjab in 2022 amid expectations of a new start in the state. Encounters, including and especially those involving individuals in the state’s custody, will only deepen disillusion and cynicism. They invite allegations of human rights violations, and risk fuelling a cycle of revenge. Punjab’s history stands as a cautionary tale of how quickly such cycles can spiral into prolonged turmoil. Punjab Police must adhere scrupulously to the rule of law. Because, when law enforcers become law breakers, there is a wide and high price to be paid.