Anybody could become victim of encounter killings if summary justice is encouraged: Justice Jasti Chelameswar

Encouraging 'summary justice' and police encounters could lead to a situation wherein any innocent person becomes a victim of arbitrary State action, retired Supreme Court judge Justice Jasti Chelameswar cautioned, underscoring the importance of protecting Rule of Law..If police action of encountering accused is promoted, any one among us could be the victim tomorrow, he said with specific reference to the Hyderabad encounter killings of 2019 in which four persons accused of raping and killing a woman were shot dead by the Telangana police..“It is all fine when we read in newspapers about summary trial and summary justice. But the point is, it may not stop with those four persons. If this kind of system is promoted, any one of us, any innocent person can become a victim. If the local policeman is not happy with you, he can simply say that you are guilty of some offence and then anything can happen thereafter,” he said..Justice Chelameswar was delivering a lecture at ICFAI Law School, Hyderabad on the topic ‘Rule of Law’..He said that such instances of summary justice are on the rise because of inefficient enforcement of law due to which people are losing faith in the system. .If the local policeman is not happy with you, he can simply say that you are guilty of some offence and then anything can happen thereafter.Justice Jasti Chelameswar.In this regard, the former judge highlighted the reaction of the Civil society to the Hyderabad encounters to make his point. He pointed out that while such encounters have happened before too, the civil society in this particular case applauded the action of the police..“In other words, civil society has come to accept State action without following the due process of law. They (civil society) may have many reasons. They may tell us that the judicial process is too slow. It might take 20 years to convict them and then there is appeal and further appeal to Supreme Court. There are all kinds of arguments. But why are such arguments being made? It is basically the inefficiency of our law enforcement machinery which include the investigating agencies, prosecuting agencies and the judicial wing do not promote the requisite confidence in the civil society,” he said..(Inefficient) implementation of law is a problem which we face in this country almost on a daily basis.Justice Jasti Chelameswar.In this regard, Justice Chelameswar urged for strong attention to be paid to implementation and enforcement of laws.."Many a time, laws are there on statute book but we find a lot of inadequacies when it comes to implementation When implementation becomes less efficient, the occurrences of offences become more frequent. (Inefficient) implementation of law is a problem which we face in this country almost on a daily basis. However well drafted and beautiful the law is, unless it is enforced properly the society cannot be said to be governed by rule of law," he said. .He, therefore, urged the law students who will become part of the system tomorrow to ensure efficient enforcement of law so that rule of law is protected.“In the long run unless we take care of the system itself might get paralysed. People might lose faith in the system. I don’t want to sound very ominous but these are the possible consequence of an inefficient system,” he added.