The Pannun-Nijjar case fallout: The truth will out … or will it?

When we in India cannot prosecute any security personnel without executive sanction, hoping for extradition to North America of even the small fish is living in wonderland, writes Ravi Nair.

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PERHAPS, no one working in the present Indian security establishment has seen the US television series, Have Gun Will Travel. Televised in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it features a mercenary investigator who— as anyone who has seen movies about the American Wild West will tell you— 'is quick on the draw'.

Solving problems with painstaking investigation is not presently the favoured option in large sections of the Indian police. 'Shoot first, ask questions later' is the preferred option.

The number of extrajudicial killings in India is seeing an exponential rise. Coyly called 'encounter deaths' by an often lawless security machinery supported by a largely supine media, they are for the most part cold-blooded first-degree murders. Why should it be any different because the target is and was in North America or Shangri-La?

The 'thok de' culture and where it leads

"Thok diya jayengay," (Will be knocked off) is what the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh stated and had his cops carry out the orders.