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India's
Dirty Harry, the zero tolerence Bombay
policeman who dispenses justice from the
barrel of a gun, has killed 87 suspects
and shows no signs of stopping.
While Inspector Pradeep Sharma's methods
are questioned by human rights groups,
he remains unrepentant. In fact he insists
in language that might have come straight
out of a Clint Eastwood movie that he
acts in self-defence.
"These criminals are filth. My mission
is to cleanse the city of this filth and
it's working," he said. "If
they're armed and resist arrest, then
I have to shoot in self-defence.
"Why this concern for them? If they're
walking about with AK-47s, you can be
sure they're not going to the temple or
going shopping."
Sharma's campaign began 13 years ago after
he joined Bombay's newly formed Criminal
Intelligence Unit (CIU). Now at 41, he
is officially credited as the policeman
with the most "kills" in India.
He is known to journalists as "the
terminator." He receives letters
of support every day that far outnumber
the complaints about the so-called "encounters"
in which the suspects die.
"I'm just a God-fearing man doing
my job, which is eliminating crime in
this city, not terminating people,"
said Sharma, who denies his "en-
counters" are stage-managed.
His critics accuse him of taking suspects
to a deserted place in the early hours,
pushing them out of a police jeep, ordering
them to run and then shooting them.
"Look, out of the 600 or so criminals
I have arrested, only 87 were killed,"
he said. "My aim is to arrest criminals
and terrorists alive because that is the
only way to get information and to break
their networks."
Sharma and his unit have gained such a
reputation that they are featured in a
series of new Bollywood movies. His superiors
are revelling in the glory and are fully
backing him. "This talk of excesses
or fake encounters is baseless,"
said Satyapal Singh, Bombay's police commissioner
for crime. "We don't want dead criminals.
We want them behind bars. But they often
resist because they know they'll face
10 to 15 years in jail."
One of the few lawyers to have challenged
Sharma is Majeed Memon, who claims that
some of his killings have been premeditated.
"Isn't it strange that when Sharma
fires on so-called criminals, no victim
has ever survived his injuries and lived
to give his version of events?" he
said.
But for the moment the public seems happy
to give Sharma the benefit of the doubt.
"The feeling is that one more killing
means one fewer criminal out there and
it's better just to close the file and
move on to the next delinquent,"
said Ajit Panja, a Delhi lawyer.
Earlier this month Sharma shot his latest
victims - three alleged members of the
Pakistan-based Islamic group Lashkar-i-Toiba.
They were suspected of being involved
in two bomb explosions that killed more
than 50 people in Bombay last month.
"These activists only care about
human rights for terrorists, contract
killers and drug traffickers, not human
rights for ordinary people. They don't
scare me and nor do the criminals. I'm
doing my duty and I'll continue,"
said Sharma.
- September 21, 2003
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