At times,encounters unavoidable

With the arrest of former Gujarat minister Amit Shah again bringing to fore the issue of fake encounters,National Human Rights Commission Chairperson

With the arrest of former Gujarat minister Amit Shah again bringing to fore the issue of fake encounters,National Human Rights Commission Chairperson Justice K G Balakrishnan (retd) on Tuesday said that with law and order problems rising,police were resorting to encounters to take control of situation. He also said in some cases,encounters were unavoidable.

While encounters are suspicious,as no criminal,except the Naxalites,would come in open to attack the police in a planned manner. But encounters are unavoidable sometimes. Having said that,I say we need checks and balances to ensure that fake encounters dont take place. The law and order problem is increasing. Criminals are taking law into their own hands,attacking even the police. Police have to take control of the situation, Balakrishnan,who was Chief Justice of India till a few months ago,said.

Elaborating,he said when police are unable to control law and order problems,they resort to steps such as encounters. It happened in Mumbai (underworld) and Andhra Pradesh (Naxalites), he added.

Asked if he was in favour of dilution of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act,1958 as demanded by some political leaders in militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir,Balakrishnan replied in the negative. Sometimes rigorous laws are needed to deal with situations resulting from terrorism. The UK brought in a law after the bombings. The US also did so. It all depends upon the conditions. But restrain on misuse of special powers is necessary, he said.

At the same time,he also said he favoured complete jurisdiction for the NHRC over J&K.

Under the present Act that governs the NHRC and defines it powers,the Commission has authority to take up cases of human rights violations throughout India except J&K,which is not within its jurisdiction due to special status under Article 370. Balakrishnan said extending the jurisdiction of the NHRC over J&K would only help the public of the state. It (J&K) is part of India. If NHRC gets jurisdiction over the state,it will help the people, he said.

Incidentally,while the NHRC was earlier regularly taking up cases concerning human rights violation in J&K,recently the Omar Abdullah-led government questioned its power to do so. Even then,the flood of complaints to the Commission continues.

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Talking about the assertion by some sections of society that the Naxalite problem is mainly due to lack of development,Balakrishnan said,There are different theories on why Naxalite movement took shape. But,by and large,if development had reached all parts of the country adequately,maybe Naxalite movement might not have been so widespread. Why are youngsters joining this movement? It is only due to lack of education and development. They become easy target for Naxalities. Something needs to be done.