From Kashmir to Andhra Pradesh through Delhi & Punjab and most recently Manipur, encounter has become an administrative practice of the Indian state particularly its police, para-military, military and other security forces. The civil liberties and democratic rights movement in India has rallied around this issue, raising relentless campaigns to unmask the murders that shroud the euphemistic encounters. In the context of political developments during the ‘emergency’ imposed by the Indira Gandhi government, ‘encounters’ assumed the center stage of critical political debates in India.
