What is as unpardonable and reprehensible as the deaths without trial, are mechanisms to sanctify the killings and put those responsible for the killings above the law through the promulgation of the Indemnity Law following 'Operation Clean Heart' and the institution of departmental investigation of these deaths. It is a pathetic state of human rights when the executive acts as the judge, jury, and executioner.

The greatest blow to the rule of law in this regard is the Indemnity Act, which has all but closed the door of legal succor to the relatives of the victims. Not only that, the Act has validated these killings. Moreover, the departmental investigations of the custodial deaths that the police conduct are a convenient ploy to prevent those policemen from facing justice in the court of law.

These deaths can not only be deemed as a violation of human rights, but also something that can only bring the image of the country into disrepute which is otherwise eminently avoidable.

Nobody can contest the need for the government to tackle the law and order situation that is less than satisfactory. But why, might we ask, can crime and violence not be combated through the normal corpus of the law and the well defined methods without having to resort to unconstitutional means that are likely to be projected by many as a form of state terrorism?

No civilised society can accept a situation where lawlessness is sought to be tackled by means that are themselves illegal. It is our hope that the government would review all the cases of deaths without trial and bring those responsible under the purview of the law.