<p>The death of gangster Vikas Dubey in an ‘encounter’ does not surprise, because the narrative of his arrest, the journey by road from Ujjain to Kanpur, the early morning tumble of the police vehicle, the snatching of a gun, the attempt to escape and subsequent killing are all part of a chronicle foretold many days ago. Encounters and killings of gangsters and other inconvenient persons follow a definite script, and have the same settings and similar plots, with only changes in some details like names and faces. It is the rare policeman who strays from the script. This was so with Dubey also. There were unexplained circumstances about his arrest in Ujjain, too, a version that it was a surrender and a view that he may have been led to or taken there. </p>.<p>The truth about the arrest and other more serious truths will now be buried with Dubey. He was known to be close to politicians, the police and many officials, as gangsters in most places are, and may have known too much. He had been warned of the raid on his home by friends in the police. It was his closeness to the powers that be for decades that sustained him in crime and gave him protection and impunity. But then, a stage was reached when protecting the secrets was more important than his life, and he was made to pay with it. That stage often comes in the life of all those who deal with this world and the underworld at the same time, because it is a Faustian bargain in which there is no mercy for those who break the terms. Vikas Dubey overreached himself and paid the price.</p>.<p>Most criminals are a part of our system and are the friends of those who run it. But the practice of killing them when they become inconvenient is entrenched now. It is a means by which the lawless system asserts and sustains itself. In UP, this law of the jungle has official sanction, with the government of Yogi Adityanath giving a free rein and licence to the police to bump off criminals, and even suspected criminals. But law and order cannot be enforced in lawless ways, and no criminal should be summarily killed, or meted out arbitrary retribution of any kind. Even the worst has the right to due process of law, and strong governance is not the wayward rule of the gun. The encounter killings of criminals has not put an end to crime in UP. The killers in uniform should actually be punished for their crimes. But none gets punished, because their impunity is also part of the script. </p>
<p>The death of gangster Vikas Dubey in an ‘encounter’ does not surprise, because the narrative of his arrest, the journey by road from Ujjain to Kanpur, the early morning tumble of the police vehicle, the snatching of a gun, the attempt to escape and subsequent killing are all part of a chronicle foretold many days ago. Encounters and killings of gangsters and other inconvenient persons follow a definite script, and have the same settings and similar plots, with only changes in some details like names and faces. It is the rare policeman who strays from the script. This was so with Dubey also. There were unexplained circumstances about his arrest in Ujjain, too, a version that it was a surrender and a view that he may have been led to or taken there. </p>.<p>The truth about the arrest and other more serious truths will now be buried with Dubey. He was known to be close to politicians, the police and many officials, as gangsters in most places are, and may have known too much. He had been warned of the raid on his home by friends in the police. It was his closeness to the powers that be for decades that sustained him in crime and gave him protection and impunity. But then, a stage was reached when protecting the secrets was more important than his life, and he was made to pay with it. That stage often comes in the life of all those who deal with this world and the underworld at the same time, because it is a Faustian bargain in which there is no mercy for those who break the terms. Vikas Dubey overreached himself and paid the price.</p>.<p>Most criminals are a part of our system and are the friends of those who run it. But the practice of killing them when they become inconvenient is entrenched now. It is a means by which the lawless system asserts and sustains itself. In UP, this law of the jungle has official sanction, with the government of Yogi Adityanath giving a free rein and licence to the police to bump off criminals, and even suspected criminals. But law and order cannot be enforced in lawless ways, and no criminal should be summarily killed, or meted out arbitrary retribution of any kind. Even the worst has the right to due process of law, and strong governance is not the wayward rule of the gun. The encounter killings of criminals has not put an end to crime in UP. The killers in uniform should actually be punished for their crimes. But none gets punished, because their impunity is also part of the script. </p>
