The Chief Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, endorsed a zero-tolerance approach to crime against women, well-equipped law-keepers and error-free charge sheet writing, among other things. Based on these reasons, he justified that shooting at criminals ‘should be the pattern’, if they try to escape from custody or if they snatch arms from the police. Several incidents of criminals being shot dead as they ‘tried to escape’ from custody, have triggered a political storm in Assam.
“If an accused tries to snatch the service gun and run away, or even simply flee, and on top of it he is, say, a rapist, law allows shooting at such a person on the leg, but not on the chest,” Himanta said at the first ever face-to-face meeting with the Officers In-Charge (OCs) of all police stations of Assam.
“When someone asked me whether shooting incidents are becoming a pattern in the state, I replied that (shooting) should be the pattern if it involves a criminal trying to escape police custody,But before doing what law has permitted us to do, we must keep our conscience clear that our work is for the good of the people and not to serve any interest of our own,
These happen only when there are no other means,” said the CM, as reported by Times Now.
Himanta, who holds the Home portfolio, also said that he wanted the police to be strict, especially with those involved in cattle-smuggling. “Those who smuggle cows should be caught at all costs… I don’t even want it to go to the chargesheet stage because our cows need to be protected,” he said, adding, “A cow is like a god to us.”
Since May 10, when Himanta took charge as the new CM, at least 8 alleged criminals were booked for cattle-smuggling, rape, murder and drug-peddling, and they received gunshot wounds while in custody, with police claiming that they had tried to flee. As per the usual procedure, an accused will be charge sheeted and convicted, but if someone tries to escape, he said “we will take a zero tolerance approach”.
The considerable rise in the number of encounters has drawn sharp reactions from the opposition, who alleged that the Assam Police has turned ‘trigger happy’ under the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led regime.
The state police, however, refuted the charge, claiming that it was the criminals who forced its personnel to resort to firing. The CM announced Rs 2.50 lakh to each police station annually as contingency fund to meet recurring expenses, as well as fortnightly medical check-ups of all staff, and said officers in-charge should be transferred every two years.
A similar incident took place, when Yogi Adityanath’s commitment to ensure maintenance of law and order in his state became a subject of debate. Encounter of Vikas Dubey, with a record of over 60 criminal cases including murder, attempt to murder, inciting riots, among others, happened when he had tried to escape police custody.
The death of Vikas Dubey served as a wake up call to many involved in the activities of mafias and gangsters, who had their strengths increased by many folds in previous years, allegedly under the patronage of parties like the SP and BSP. But under the Yogi regime, not withstanding any criminal’s might and history, they all have been made to face the law, and in cases of non-compliance, they will be exterminated. Himanta is operating in similar lines of Yogi, which is now seems like a much required approach, to eradicate major crimes in individual states.