Political activists have also allegedly been deliberately killed in staged “encounters” with the police, either in circumstances different from the police version or without the “encounter” taking place at all. This had happened especially in states where there has been a pattern of attacks by armed groups on the police and where special legislation gives the police increased powers to shoot to kill. In Andhra Pradesh, for example, the People’s War Group – the dominant Naxalite group in the state – has been active and has killed several dozen local police Officers. As a result the police have been given wide powers to arrest, detain and shoot at sight in four districts declared “Disturbed Areas” under the Andra Pradesh Suppression of Disturbances Act, 1948. Several Naxzalites have allegedly died in staged “encounters” with the police -although few details about these incidents are known.
The most widespread allegations of “encounter” killing have come from Punjab. In December 1986 eight of the 12 districts in the state were declared “disturbed areas” under Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Punjab and Chandigarh) Special Powers Act, and the armed forces, including the Border Security Force and the Central Reserve Police Force, were given increased powers to conduct searches and shoot on sight people they believed were carrying out unlawful activities. The act also grants immunity from prosecution to members of the security forces when exercising their powers under the act. There have been many reports in the press of “hardcore terrorists” being killed by the police in “encounters” or while “trying to escape”. Local civil liberties groups allege that many of these “encounters” are fake and have been staged to kill, after their capture, people wanted by the police. One civil liberties group claimed in August 1987 that 73 young Sikh men had died in fake “encounters” in Amritsar district alone between 12 May and 22 August, and that another 50 had died in similar circumstances in Faridkot district between 12 May and 29 July. The group
