The issue of encounter deaths or extra-judicial killings has never been a subject of serious probe for Indian journalists until the Tamang Report on the 2004 killing of Ishrat Jahan and three others was made public recently. In this post, I wish to draw the readers’ attention to the two comprehensive cover stories carried by Frontline and Tehelka.

Tehelka:

*Ajit Sahi in his story, brings to light certain unreported facts regarding how the Gujarat Government sought to scuttle the inquiry and the probe.
*How Shamima lived with the tag of mother of India’s first woman terrorist?

*In my article, I ask whether the distinction sought to be made between fake and genuine encounters is valid in practice, and bring hitherto unpublished NHRC data on encounter deaths into public domain.
*In the second piece, I give background on the encounter-guidelines case in the Supreme Court.
*Anupama Katakam’s in-depth analysis of the Tamang report.
*Interviews with R.B.Sreekumar, Nitya Ramakrishnan and K.G.Kannabiran.
*Aparna Alluri on the Andhra Pradesh High Court judgment under challenge in the Supreme court.
*Reports of encounter killings in States (Maharashtra, J&K, Manipur, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Delhi)
*R.K.Raghavan on why gains from encounter killings are illusory, and in his regular column, reflects on the lessons to counterterrorism agencies in India from the recent conviction of three Islamists in U.K.
*On political parties’ doublespeak on encounter killings.
*Praful Bidwai’s column

(The PDF file of the Frontline cover story can be read here)