VIKAS DUBEY ENCOUNTER

JIST OF THE ENCOUNTER   He right away fled after killing eight police men who came to arrest him in a midnight raid of 3^rd July. On 9^th July, he surrendered to the police in order to be safe as he was all over the news and no one knows what promises his ‘well-wishers’ gave him and made him to surrender but the fate had something else for him. Around 8:45 on 9^th July, police along with Dubey left from Ujjain on their way to Kanpur. There were fourteen personnel of UPSTF in three white SUV convoy. Some vehicles of media houses also followed them. Around 3:30, the convoy entered up toll plaza in Jhansi and two police jeeps escort them. At Barrajod toll plaza all vehicles were stopped for checking but the UPSTF vehicles moved ahead. Around 6:30, the convoy reached Sachendi road in Kanpur, according to police the vehicle carrying Dubey skids and topples where Dubey then tried to run and injured five personnel and in retaliation police open fired and Dubey was shot multiple times. Around 7:15, he along with wounded policemen was taken to LLR hospital where doctors declared him dead. BACKGROUND OF DUBEY No one seems to disagree that Dubey deserved to meet his end. Yet, the manner in which the UP police silenced him forever had closed the book of his criminal career. His book had unopened chapters which would have brought to his evident association with politicians who were there all along in his journey in making him an underworld don, is what makes his killing in an encounter on Friday so controversial. Dubey’s rise from a local goon to the position of a fortunate gangster would not have been possible without the active support of consecutive UP governments, who were always ready to welcome him and aid him. The gangster was functional for them when they needed his support at the time of elections – not only to get the local vote in Kanpur district, but to also provide them muscle power. Dubey earned his prestige as a dreaded gangster with the breath-taking daylight murder of a prominent BJP leader, Santosh Shukla, whom he gunned down inside the rural police station quite 18 years ago. It was an amusing afternoon on October 12, 2001, when local villagers and policemen vulnerably watched Dubey jammed dozens of bullets into Shukla’s temple and chest from point blank range. The trial court eventually acquitted him, ‘Lack of evidence’ and ‘the absence of a single eyewitness set him free’. Though it was not odd for eyewitnesses in UP to turn hostile when it comes to deposing before court of law, also Dubey somehow managed to exercise his power on uniformed policemen. Each of the policemen present in the police station at the time of Shukla’s murder deposed before the court that they had not seen anything. Surely, Shukla’s cold-blooded murder followed by his acquittal became a turning point in his career of crime. Governments came and went but Dubey grew with each ruling era. The reason was simple everyone found his caste and muscle power “handy” in fulfilling their respective political agenda. The caste-ridden politics of Uttar Pradesh led him to emerge as a Brahmin’s strongman, who could ensure the votes of his community with his influence that was growing day by day all over the region. Irrespective of political party, his followers would go all the way for whoever Dubey backed. And the parties also paid him back with their support. ENCOUNTER On 9^th July around 8:30, Dubey surrendered to police and then he was taken to Kanpur by road with fourteen UPSTF personnel in three white SUV. Several media vehicles also followed them. On 10^th July around 3:15, two police jeeps joined the convoy at toll plaza in Jhansi, UP. Around 6:15, the convoy crossed the Barrajod toll plaza but other vehicles following were stopped for checking. According to the police, around 6:30 on the Sachendi road in Kanpur, which is barely 22 km away from the village Dubey fled on 3^rd July, they met a car accident due to instant run into herd of cattle. The car carrying Dubey skids and topples which gave Dubey a chance to snatch service weapon from a personnel and shoot them, moreover making an attempt to flee from the site but unfortunately other police men open fired at him and with multiple shots he was injured. After a series of dramatic gun fight there was utter silence where five personnel and Dubey were shot and taken to LLR hospital where doctor declared Dubey dead and treatment of other personnel was going on. Now this whole story of encounter is being criticized by people and is being called a ‘fake encounter’, because the story contains many loopholes and a lot of unanswered questions by the police department. The first and foremost question which arises is that after the blood bath of 3^rd July, where he immediately fled from Kanpur after six days he is being caught or he surrendered at a “temple in Ujjain”, now a wanted criminal who flees after a bloodbath was caught in a temple! Does he went there praying for his safety or what? Then the second question arises that if he really surrendered then what was the need of running away when the car accident happened. Why would somebody run if he already surrendered himself few hours ago? The third question which comes is that by looking at 48 years old Vikas Dubey can someone point out that he is so ‘fit and agile’ that after a car accident where his car toppled, he snatched the service gun from a personnel and shoots them and after coming out of the car he tries to run! He knew that there are around fourteen police personnel and he will not be able to make the run sacksful, then also he ran, the personnel’s who passes the fitness test before their commission in the police, Vikas Dubey outperformed them! Now if the story is true then the policemen should be fired or suspended as they are unable to protect their service weapon then how will they provide justice to people? The policemen were so careless to handcuff him before leaving for Kanpur; they were so self-assured about themselves that they didn’t handcuffed the most wanted criminal on which government had put prize money.     MY OPINION In my opinion, what police did was right he deserved it and I guess most of you will also agree with me but you will have a single question in your minds that is the way of killing right? Because we could have got a lot of information from him about the leaders who were helping him from the system, and the two hundred names of police officials who worked for him. But just think for a minute, Do you think he would have given those names to police? Or if he had given those names then do you think the police department would have given the names to public or media or arrested them?  Do you think Dubey would have been trialled by court and found guilty by court? Because till today no one had stood against him all the officials who took his case reverted back from their statements, all the witnesses reverted back from their statements there is no one to prove him guilty, he would have come out again on the ground of ‘lack of evidence’, like he was acquitted in the Shukla case. And the last but not the least do you think that the leaders who were helping and aiding him would be punished because as far as I know, no minister till the date has been to jail or made guilty for a crime not a single minister! So now also do you think that it was wrong we should have taken him to court? In my opinion if police killed him in a fake encounter also but they killed a gangster! the so called, “Bahubali of Kanpur” who had beaten, killed, smuggled, extorted, kidnapped a lot of people , yes it will not lead us to the leaders who made him so privileged but is make the criminal’s count one less and this one makes a big difference. It may not be the right way but it was the right thing to do. People are asking for CBI enquiry; I don’t understand what for? They want an enquiry in a case of most wanted criminal who killed eight police personnel! We have to stand up against these criminals as one if we want the rate of crimes to go down and make our places safe for us. We have to stand up for our officers who kill these criminals, doesn’t matter they do it in an original or fake encounter but the point is they are killing criminals which is more important than taking them to custody and bring out names of people who helped them because it will lead to us nowhere, if we want to change the system we have to cut the roots and by killing them we are cutting their roots. BY- OJASVI MADAN