(1). Political background of Vikas Dubey
Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh-born Vikas Dubey was a gangster who later became a politician. He had a lengthy criminal history. He was gunned down on July 10, 2020, allegedly trying to escape after his convoy from Ujjain to Kanpur overturned. At present, the circumstances surrounding the encounter with the gangster are highly dubious.
In the early 1990s, the first criminal case against him was filed, and by 2020, there were about 60 cases against him. He is currently well-known for his horrific massacre, which is linked to the deaths of eight police officers and a minister of state inside a police station while they were trying to apprehend him.
Vikas Dubey's journey was likewise one of arriving at the safe haven, as has been the case with numerous criminals who have turned to politics. He was getting ready to run in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, maybe under the BSP banner.
In the Dehat District of Kanpur, which is a part of the Akbarpur Lok Sabha Constituency, his gangmen were preparing the ground in the Raniya Assembly Constituency. Pratibha Shukla of the BJP is the current occupant of the seat.
In light of Uttar Pradesh's current political climate, Vikas Dubey has been attempting to join the BJP at the same time. A national-level party leader allegedly "blocked" his entry into the BJP, according to some local reports. His "immediate and much-needed" goal was to become an MLA. But Vikas Dubey was no rookie to the political scene. His ascent in the criminal underworld was facilitated by political support. Because of his strong political ties, politicians would come to him before every election to ask for votes in exchange for legal protection. Despite being connected to several cases involving horrific crimes, he used the political support as a means to be granted bail and be freed from custody. In 2018, after he was charged with more than 150 crimes, he was granted bail.
When Vikas Dubey was a teenager, he was first arrested in 1990 after attacking someone following a fight with his father. Even though no formal complaint had been filed, he was freed thanks to some local politicians.
By the mid-1990s, Mayawati, the leader of the party, was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, and Vikas Dubey was a member of the BSP. Subsequently, before the 2012 elections, in which the Samajwadi Party emerged victorious in the Raniya Assembly seat, he was purportedly persuaded.
He had been getting in closer contact with the leaders of the BJP, which won the seat in 2017, lately.
At the time of Santosh Shukla's (2001) murder, Vikas Dubey was a Ghimau Zilla Panchayat member from 2000 to 2005. Shukla was a BJP leader who was killed by the latter inside the police station. In 2005, the seat was designated as reserved, and Vikas Dubey succeeded in electing his "men" to the Zilla Panchayat until 2015. This seat was set aside for females in 2015.
"As the day before polling Vikas Dubey and his gangmen toured constituency telling people to vote for her," Richa, the spouse of Vikas Dubey, who is currently being held by the police, won the seat.
A day after his arrest in Madhya Pradesh, gangster Vikas Dubey was shot and killed while attempting to flee from an automobile accident in Uttar Pradesh, according to police on Friday morning.
The people have many unanswered questions and find the statement from the commanding officers who were present at the scene of the encounter to be unsatisfactory.[1]
(2). Why Vikas Dubey killing marks a watershed in history of encounters
The assassination of Vikas Dubey exposes the callousness of a weakened law enforcement and political establishment.
A significant portion of the discourse surrounding the murder of thug Vikas Dubey confuses two distinct matters. The first is the whole encounter business, where police officers shoot suspects while they are in custody and then claim that the victims were shot during the capture or escape.
The second is Dubey's murder and what it reveals about India's current state of law and order, the heinousness of deaths in custody, and the relationship between gangsters and politicians.
The issue of "encounter killings" has received the most attention out of the two. Nobody who respects the fundamentals of the Indian Constitution can condone the killing of police officers. The right of a citizen to be presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty is safeguarded by the Constitution, along with due process.
The issue lies in the fact that most middle-class Indians are willing to turn a blind eye, even if they don't actively support encounters. There is an even greater percentage of people who strongly support encounters among politicians, bureaucrats, and police officers.
The previous defense of the popularity of encounters centered on the legal system's shortcomings. It takes years for cases to go to trial. Gangsters are granted bail and allowed to carry on with their illegal activities in the interim. It is frequently mentioned that Dawood Ibrahim was released on bond when he left the nation for Dubai.
Moreover, witnesses are crucial to most cases. When the case reaches trial, the witnesses have been coerced into altering their testimony because Indian police are ill-equipped to protect them.
This would be viewed as support for expanding the number of courts and expediting trials, or for changing the legal system in many other nations. This, however, is viewed in India as justification for doing away with the legal system completely and appointing police officers to serve as juries, judges, and executioners.
Even in the late 1960s, encounters served as the last straw for the Naxalite movement. They were employed during the Punjab insurgency in the 1980s. Furthermore, it is now assumed that a policeman's gun will take the place of the legal system in the event of an insurrection against the Indian state.
Previously contentious, the use of encounters in routine police work has come to be seen as standard practice. In an effort to free Mumbai from the underworld's hold, the police there executed gangsters on command in the 1980s. Police officers are frequently designated for execution tasks in cities and are even idealized in the media.[2]
(3). Citation
1. Aryan Madhavan,"Political background of vikas dubey",available at: https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-3961-political-background-of-vikas-dubey.html (last visited on December 1 2023).
2. Vir sanghvi,"why vikas dubey killing marks a watershed in history of encounters", available at: https://www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/why-vikas-dubey-killing-marks-a-watershed-in-history-of-encounters/story-cv7Qh3HBpYDZCoRtrnPf7I.html (last visited on December 1 2023).