TN police encounter deaths unacceptable: CPM

CHENNAI: CPM on Tuesday condemned the recent encounter deaths in Tamil Nadu. The party urged state govt to prevent police from killing criminals in encounters.
In a statement, CPM state secretary K Balakrishnan said three people had been killed in encounters in Chennai in the last two months. “This is not accidental. Police taking on the authority to punish criminals when the entire world is raising its voice against death sentences imposed by courts is unacceptable,” he said.
He said justifying these deaths by saying that the people killed in encounters were dangerous criminals was unacceptable.“However dangerous the criminals may be, they have to be arrested and produced before the court and punished accordingly,” he said.
He said Tamil Nadu had seen many encounters in the past but that did not control rowdyism. “Instead, rowdyism is only increasing in the state,” he said. Balakrishnan said CPM would like to point out that the reason for the increase in rowdyism was the careless attitude of police.
“If encounters could bring down crime, murders should have decreased by now,” he said. Police taking on uncontrolled authority and executing death sentences cannot be allowed in a state where the rule of law prevails.
Stating that these encounters had happened in defence was unbelievable. Similarly, it was known that torture was the reason for arrested people breaking their limbs.
“These incidents will only bring a bad name for govt. Hence, govt should conduct an inquiry into the encounter deaths and firmly tell the police that there should be no encounter deaths. Govt should take action against cops responsible for encounters,” he said.