In the Capital, which faces more threat from terrorist organisations than the underworld, ‘‘encounters’’ have followed a predictable pattern: the accused are shot dead and then pronounced terrorists. Information about the incident only trickles much after it occurs.From the famous ‘‘Batla House’’ encounter in which two alleged terrorists involved in the Red Fort shootout were killed to the recent, and perhaps the most controversial, shootout at Ansal Plaza — a shopping mall, the police operations have raised many questions — most of which remain unanswered. The Batla House encounter even led to a messy standoff between the students of Jamia Millia Islamia and the local police as one of those killed was enrolled as a student at the institute.In all, Delhi witnessed eight ‘‘encounter’’ deaths last year, out of which six of the victims were alleged members of the terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba.‘‘An encounter killing is meant to be the last resort — an act of self-defence. But it is being used to score points and improve the image of the police after a perceived security failure,’’ says a senior police official of the Special Cell which is involved in all anti-terrorist operations in the city. It is a mind game where creating the perception of being a strong police force is more important, he adds.But that kind of conscious image-building can often backfire, like it did in the Ansal Plaza shootout on November 3. A resident of South Delhi, Dr Hari Krishna, claimed he was witness to the entire incident and rubbished the police version that they had killed two LeT militants, Abu Anas and Ejaj Ahmed. Police said they had acted on a tip-off and laid a trap for the duo, who had reportedly fired back at them. But the ‘‘eyewitness’’ doctor was on every news channel and newspaper, announcing how two unarmed youths were shot by the police.The Ansal Plaza killing was followed by the shooting of two alleged militants of the LeT near the Tughlakabad Fort on December 14. Earlier in the year, on May 10, two more militants, again allegedly belonging to the Lashkhar, Abu Bilal and Abu Zaibullah were killed in an encounter near Humayun’s Tomb.
