Recently, Karnataka’s Agriculture Minister, B.C. Patil, called for the enactment of a “shoot-at-sight” law against anyone who “speaks ill of the country or raise[s] pro-Pakistan slogans”. However, the media previously reported “shoot-at-sight” orders by authorities across India, passed to contain volatile situations, where incidents of violence are reported.
Alarm spread across North-East Delhi after various media houses reported that the Delhi Police passed a “shoot-at-sight” order following widespread incidents of violence in the region. There remains no official declaration by the police or its representatives about the scope of the order. The media, too, has failed to elucidate the exact details of the order.
In fact, there is confusion about whether such an order was passed at all. Locals claim that the police announced the implementation of the order on loudspeakers in the region. Further, B.L. Santhosh, the Bhartiya Janata Party's National General Secretary (organisation), confirmed the enforcement of the order in 4 districts. On the other hand, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast), Ved Prakash Surya, and a Union Home Ministry official rubbished the claims.
The alleged order became infused with the communal underpinnings of the recent clashes in Delhi. While warnings were spread around Muslim localities, swathes of Hindu mobs boasted about the police’s bias in their favour, with right-wing social media handles cautioning Muslims to prepare for their deaths.
Hence, with such ambiguity surrounding the issue, the compelling question is whether Indian laws allow for such an order at all. In short, Indian laws do not explicitly use the term “shoot-at-sight” and there is no formal definition determining the exact scope and nature of such an order.
A “shoot-at-sight” order depicts an arbitrary use of lethal force by the police. It empowers law enforcement to indiscriminately fire at individuals that are merely suspected of participating in illegal activities, without a formal FIR or order by the Magistrate.
The powers of the police under these orders are preventive in nature. The U.P. Police Chief, O.P. Singh, while justifying the use of “shoot-at-sight” orders said that “encounters are a part of crime prevention” and not state policy. A combined reading of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Police Act, 1861 is necessary to understand the legalities surrounding the policy. Together, the two acts limit the preventive powers of the police.
The Code grants certain preventive powers to police officers. For instance, a police officer can arrest an individual without a warrant or an order from the Magistrate, provided that the offence that the individual is apprehended from committing cannot be otherwise prevented. While the law allows for the use of “all means necessary” against an individual that resists arrest, there is no scope for using lethal force as a preventive measure without a warrant or an order by a magistrate. Further, the Code does not provide any scope for the use of lethal force to disperse unlawful assemblies to “maintain public order and tranquillity”.
The Delhi Police Act details the specific measures that the police force is permitted to undertake when there is a threat to public order, such as a riot or other grave disturbances of the peace. Under the act, the Commissioner of Police can restrict access to a building or an area. Further, the Commissioner of Police can prohibit actions such as carrying arms, possession of corrosive or explosive substances, exhibition of persons or corpses, public utterances of cries, and playing music, among a host of other prohibitions. However, no provision can be interpreted to allow a “shoot-at-sight” order under the garb of maintaining public order.
Various proponents of the 'shoot-at-sight' policy argue for the need to award such powers to the police in situations where protests turn violent and risk public tranquillity. A provision in Indian criminal law that guarantees the right to private self-defence supports this argument. However, the Supreme Court held that in situations where the protests turn violent, the police must not use excessive force and must ensure that the extent of measures taken continues to respect the individuals’ human rights and human dignity. Hence, any exercise of a police officer’s right to self-defence must be guided by the principles of proportionality.
Without a formal enquiry determining the guilt of an individual, a shoot-at-sight order is a blatant denial of the right to life and liberty under the Indian constitution. Article 21 of the Indian Constitution reads as follows: “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law”. The right to life and liberty under this Article is interpreted to include the right to a fair investigation to determine guilt and consequently award a penalty that restricts an individual’s rights under this Article. Hence, by providing law enforcement with the power to “shoot-at-sight”, individuals are denied their right to be subject to trials to establish their guilt.
The informal and casual use of this phrase in the media and by politicians has significant social repercussions. For instance, in Delhi, after the passage of the alleged “shoot-at-sight” order, various violent crowds dispersed despite confusion surrounding the implementation of the order.
However, in some situations, authorities used the shoot-at-sight order to contain volatile situations to create fear amongst the masses to deter them from participating in protests. For example, during the nationwide protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Suresh Angadi, the Minister for Railways of India (Minister of State), urged the police to shoot anyone who caused damage to railway property. Further, in 2017, soon after the conviction of self-proclaimed religious leader Guru Ram Rahim, Ram Niwas, a Senior Bureaucrat in Haryana, warned individuals of a “shoot-at-sight” order against demonstrations protesting his arrest.
Alongside the widespread panic and fear caused by threatening to invoke an order that they are not empowered to pass or enforce, law enforcement has also justified violence against protestors under the facade of this supposed legal provision. For example, in 2006, the Assam government passed shoot-at-sight orders, leading the police to open fire on 20,000 individuals in Tinsukia.
Despite the extra-judicial nature of these orders, they are commonly accepted as a reality in journalistic and political circles. There is an urgent need for policymakers in India to clarify the legality of these orders to avoid misinformation and the incorrect interpretation of the phrase "shoot-at-sight". While the need to grant discretion to police officers in emergencies is irrefutable, the scope of such powers must be clearly defined by the legislature to prevent any abuse of power that is tantamount to human rights violations.
Reference List
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The Constitution of India, 1950.
The Delhi Police Act, 1978 (Act No. 34 of 1978).
The Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (Act No. 1 of 1872).
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