Supreme court has come down rather heavily on fake encounters and has given a stinging observation that cops behind fake encounters should be hanged. This was no loose statement in that the highest court of the country has showed its frustration on the law enforcers taking the law into their hands and the court has clearly called them also as murderers, not withstanding their legal empowerment and rather for misusing the same.- "Fake encounter killings by cops are nothing but cold blooded brutal murder, which should be treated as the rarest of rare offense and police personnel responsible for this offence should be awarded death sentence". The Supreme court went on to clarify that "If crimes are committed by ordinary people, ordinary punishment should be given but if the offence is committed by policemen, much harsher punishment should be given to them because they do an act totally contrary to their duties".
While this observation may bring cheers to the relatives of innocent victims and is likely to act as a deterrent, it is surprising that Times of India has taken a different view on it. In its TIMES VIEW , published on 9th August, TOI says that though cops involved in fake encounters need to be punished , it should stop short of capital punishment. It is surprising as to why the TOI should play the Judge here, when it is agreed that the act is punishable. Is this a misplaced support against capital punishment? In an act of over enthusiasm and trying to uphold democracy, many a times we play more straight than required and this also at times tend to delay the justice, as is evident with so many cases of high profile crimes awaiting the final nod. Let us not forget the mental agony of the relatives of victims, who have been proved to have wrongly suffered under the cops. Much more is expected of TOI befitting its neutral fourth estate stance and leave the deliverance of justice to the judiciary!
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