Lawmen are to protect, not kill

Much to our regret, this exalted ideal has been rudely shattered by the RAB's extra-judicial killing of arrested criminals, passing off as crossfire deaths. And it seems that this appalling practice has rubbed off on the police, whose custodial deaths are now termed as deaths in 'crossfire'. The total number of deaths in the so-called crossfire, since the inception of RAB is mind-boggling.

There are no two opinions that criminals must be reined in. But what should not be permitted under any circumstances, much less under any law, is the arbitrary killing of any arrested person. Right to kill is antipodal to the rule of law. As it is, the law enforcing agencies have been given wide powers of arrest, in some cases without warrant, which itself is a transgression of the law and repugnant to the very essence of natural justice. To say, as we have heard done by some ministers of the government, that these criminals themselves showed no respect for the right of their victims and, thus, on their part deserve none, is as irresponsible a statement as it is odious. What the law enforcing agencies have failed to realise is that these acts of theirs have eroded their very moral standing as the protectors of law.

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We are glad that finally the judiciary has caught up with the government and the law enforcing agencies. One hopes that there will be reversal of the gross violation of the rule of law. We are convinced that all the deaths in crossfire will have to be accounted for, sooner or later.