Dubey's killing should initiate reforms in policing

This refers to the headlines "Gangster Dubey killed in UP police encounter", (The Hans India, July 11). Vikas Dubey - the butcher of eight cops in a village near Kanpur has finally been eliminated by UP police in the so- called encounter.

Considering, the state of affairs in UP, the state government's unwritten execution order to police, to carry out encounters, it struck my mind - when the news of Dubey's arrest in Ujjain broke out, the perpetrator will be killed in a probable encounter by the UP police, and it came true after twenty four hours of his arrest.

The varied versions of police to explain the circumstances triggering encounter have multiple gaps and several flaws which have raised volley of pertinent questions. But the killing of Dubey has also buried many secrets which could have exposed the unholy nexus between the criminal gangster and politicians - through custodial interrogation and thorough investigation.

However, his story, and the story of search for him is a tale of corrosive political culture of UP, the mockery of the rule of law in much of the Indian hinterland, and the close - and ever deepening interlinkage - between politics and crime.

But how can a political dispensation protect a criminal? That is where broken law and order machinery comes in.

The end of Dubey must mark the beginning of a broader investigation into the trend of gang lords thriving with impunity, trigger a much needed process to change electoral incentives and tackle the criminalisation of politics, lead to the creation of criminal justice system which can act independent of partisan pressures, and bring about a qualitative change in the political-security environment of UP. That will be true justice for the citizens in the state.

N Sadhasiva Reddy, Bengaluru